Now You're Gone, So Long
by MagicalMemories
Summary: Leah's life's a mess and it all began with her best friend's, Darren Shan's, death. It was when Steve's second chance came. It was when the most fatal mistake of her life happened.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Darren Shan saga. If I did then I wouldn't be here.**

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_Leah's life's a mess and it all began with her best friend's, Darren Shan's, death. It was when Steve's second chance came. It was when the most fatal mistake of her life happened._

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**Book 1:**

_CIRQUE DU FREAK:_

NIGHT'S SLAVE:

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Darren Shan.

Dead.

_Dead._

It was odd hearing that word. Usually it had no effect on me. Maybe it brought on some sadness to hear of it but when I had heard my mother saying what she had heard on the phone it was like something heavy had hit me from the side, like some truck slamming into me at full force.

Apparently the neighbours had found him at the side of the house, just lying there. I had endlessly asked my mom questions even though I knew that she wouldn't be able to tell me anything. That hadn't stopped me from throwing a tantrum about her not telling me things though.

A friend dying made you do stupid things, I thought. I hadn't really even apologized but I tried to put my mind at ease by pretending that my mom would probably forgive me anyway. I would always hope that she'd do that, at least.

But who I was the most mad at was Darren. Be it not on purpose or may it be on purpose - so far that had not been determined - but the thought of him leaving so quickly didn't sit so well with me.

It seemed overrated - death. The people who died left the other people - the ones who were still alive - behind to grieve over them.

"Honey, things like this happen. It's part of life. It's Nature, and this is simply how it works," was what my father had said. "Shame, of course, that a boy like Darren, so young and full of life, had to go." Dad had always admired Darren - he supposed that he was a bit like him when he was younger.

I don't know if that was supposed to have actually cheered me up somewhat but I had smiled anyway to show Dad that I was listening and that I was grateful, even if, truthfully, I wasn't on the inside. I didn't listen to many other people when they rattled off things like that to me - I didn't believe that they understood anything.

Life, unfortunately, after Darren's death had to carry on. And that meant the most awful thing in life had to come forth and ruin everything.

_School._

That place had been somewhat bearable when Darren had been around, along with some of our other friends. We would pass notes in class and sometimes makes wild faces when the teacher's back was turned to us. A lot of times I would fall asleep, or laugh at one of the others falling asleep and getting caught.

Other times we would sit and laugh at our friend Steve Leopard. Of course, his real name wasn't as fun or wild sounding, it was just plain _Leonard_, but he could be so fun and wild himself that he had been officially dubbed as _Leopard_. Sometimes, he wasn't so much fun and more wild and scary. Like when he threw tantrums. But Darren and I hadn't minded unless we were what happened to cause the tantrums and lashes of rage. That was how we rolled and were happy with it. Darren knew how to handle Steve better than I did - they were best friends and had met when they were little kids.

Darren had always been a fun guy to hang out with but hung back on the rule breaking stuff. Of course, Steve or I had managed on several accounts to bring him along on any rule breaking business but mostly his hands were clean of it.

The only problem now was that ever since Steve had gotten out of the hospital from getting bitten by some unknown thing the group had been slightly broken up. At first I thought that it had been about something stupid that the whole group had recently battled each other for - something about getting a ticket for a lame circus - and that they were now mad at each other because only two had been able to go out of the four of the guys. Then, afterwards, it was clear that Darren and Steve had had a fight. At first Darren ignored hanging out with Steve, until after Steve got sent to hospital and then came out. Then Steve ignored Darren as if he had the plague. I stuck by Darren - I knew him far better than I had ever known Steve.

I hadn't bothered to really check in with either of them though after they split up. Steve usually snarled at me for being all girly about something stupid and pointless and would push me away - acting even more less of a mate than he already did - and Darren would just lie and say everything was fine, even if it was always clear that he was lying.

I suppose that it hadn't been anything truly serious as Steve still managed to show up to Darren's funeral. I had mainly stuck around Darren's sister, Annie, but I'd still seen him, standing alone in a corner, away from everyone else. I never approached him, he'd had his serious face on and wasn't one to mess with. Everyone seemed to think that.

I still could hang out with Tommy Jones or Alan Morris but they weren't the same as Darren. They were far better than Steve, but I didn't really know what to do about it. For the time being hanging out by myself seemed just fine. I had never particularly noticed my lack of best friends.

I walked down the silent hallways of school. The funeral had only been a few days ago so sorrow still filled everyone at having lost a great classmate and best friend. Some people hadn't shown up, either because they didn't want to go to class because of work or they were actually grieving, but some still showed up. Though they didn't look great. A few girls that I passed had tears trickling down their cheeks and a few were letting sobs escape from their mouths.

Some stood at their lockers or were talking with friends and trying not to cry. I had passed a teacher or two who had also tried to keep their tears in. Darren had affected everyone somehow.

I had gotten up that morning and been utterly horrified to find that I'd have to go to school today. That meant there was an increase that I might cry in public. And crying in front of anyone tended to be embarrassing for me.

When I'd gotten in, having been dropped off by my dad, I found that Steve had also come in - his bike had been parked in the front of the school, at the bike rack.

He'd been closest to Darren, since, after all, he was a boy just like Darren. They could talk about the things that Darren and I would never have been able to discuss. And apparently boys didn't discuss as much things as girls tended to. Anything over emotional was out of the question.

But now since Darren died Steve and me have grown further apart. It was like now we were too busy to spare a few minutes to see or talk to each other. Not that I was really complaining. I felt like putting the blame on just about anyone recently, and getting into a petty fight with Steve was not on my agenda.

I turned a corner in the brightly coloured corridor and saw Steve with Alan, Tommy and a load of other guys from our year. He was laughing with them and that was the only sound filling the corridor. Everyone around had gloomy expressions and looked like they were envious of Steve for being able to laugh at a time like this.

The idea of Steve - or anyone- laughing so freely made me tighten my fists and grind my teeth. What on Earth could have been so funny anyway?

I hated being simply over emotional but what I hated far more were people who had no consideration for any situations or other people. Steve had always cared more about himself than anyone else, even Darren.

Laughter rose from the rest of the boys, the ones that I wasn't that familiar with. Alan looked around edgily and spotted me. For a minute it felt like he would do the usual, wildly wave me over, and then fill me in on the joke. Except he didn't wave me over. He just stared and then tugged on the sleeve of Steve's long-sleeved shirt to get his attention. It took a while for that to happen.

I gawked as Steve tore his arm out of Alan's reach and snarled at him like some savage animal. Alan, looking braver than he normally would have, pointed my way. I quickly looked away and stopped at my locker, leaning into it so that my back was to Steve and the boys.

I wasn't particularly well known for being able to handle my anger, and sometimes I was taunted about going to anger management classes, but for me to do my best in ignoring this, I was proud of myself. Or, was, later on when I thought back to it. Quite proud, up until the moment that Steve let out a particularly nasty laugh that boomed through the whole corridor.

I turned around quickly and gave him my best glare, not that he exactly caught it. He was too busy holding onto his stomach from laughing so hard, his eyes closed.

I clenched my hands into fists and let my bag slide down my back and arms and onto the floor, falling with a dull thud. I put one foot in front of the other and marched over to the group of boys. I proceeded to tap Steve - none too gently - on his shoulder but I never got a response.

What made me sneer nastily was when another boy opened his mouth and said "Yeah, Shan wasn't the brightest crayon in the box."

My eyes narrowed in anger at the boy. I tapped him on the shoulder again but he shooed me away, as if I were a dog.

So, with that I did what I always did best, I started a fight.

Looking back on it I could have easily said that it wasn't a smart move on my behalf and it also got me no where, other than in a seat in the nurse's office. But I knew that I would never have felt any better if I had just let the boys carry on laughing at, what - or who - apparently was Darren.

And for a girl who sure got into a lot of fights, I wasn't exactly too good at them. I was great if I had something on me like a baseball bat or bag, but hand to hand combat just sucked for me. But that didn't really stop me.

I took a few steps back and then lunged at Steve just as he began laughing again. My fists had been at the ready and straight away came into contact with one of the guys jaw. I meant to go straight for Steve since he laughed the loudest of them all but I never had good aim in anything so I hit the guy next to him.

The guy roared from the pain and instantly brought his clenched hand up and attempted at hitting me back. A crowd quickly gathered around us and started cheering us on. A lot of the kids were chanting my name because, I suppose, they heard the creeps, who called themselves Darren's 'best friends', making a joke about their dead friend.

The guy, who's name was Ben, pushed me away from him and spat out blood. "What the heck's your problem?"

"My problem is that you're making jokes about my dead best friend!" And with that I lunged at him again. I know that my main target was Steve but when I started with one person I wouldn't stop until I'm finished with them.

"Lee-yah! Lee-yah! Lee-yah!" Everyone was chanting my name now. I suppose it was worth watching a girl fight with a guy, attempting to beat his ass.

"Get off me, you freak!" Ben yelled as I jumped on his back and pulled his hair. As Ben kept turning in circles in an attempt to get me off I saw Alan run off down the corridor. Figures the guy would lose his nerve. Ben noticed that I wasn't pulling his hair as hard as before, that I had lost my concentration, and tugged at my left arm which was wrapped around his neck. I fell off his back and right onto my butt on the hard linoleum floor. And it also gave the boy a minute to recollect himself.

Just as I was about to jump up and get back onto his back someone pulled me back. I twisted out of their grip and stumbled around to look at them. It was Steve wearing what I could only call a serious expression. For a minute I felt scared - what had I gotten myself _into_? - thinking that he'd lose it and go monkey crazy on my butt. But I recollected what was left of my courage and swung at him with my right hand.

He didn't expect me to throw a punch at him so he just barely managed to lean back awkwardly to let it miss his face. I lost my footing and stumbled right into him, bringing us down, one struggling to get up and one struggling to get their fists on the others jaw or nose.

"What are you doing?" Steve yelled at me as I tried scratching his face.

"I, _unlike you_, respect my best friend and would love it if you stopped making jokes about him!"

I knew that I wasn't as strong as Steve was and that he'd soon have the upper hand in the fight. And after a few minutes he got out of our entangled limbs and pulled my arms behind my back. It hurt struggling so I gave up - for the time being anyway.

Steve seemed to loosen up his hold on my wrists when he saw that I wasn't fighting against his hold, and when the time was right I pulled them away from his, turned around and swung my fist as hard as I could at his face.

This time it connected with his nose. My adrenaline ran out when I heard his scream echo through the hall louder than the kids chanting. When he looked at me I could see a bump already forming on the bridge of his delicate nose.

His eyes were filled with rage. He quickly composed himself and brought up his fists. Throughout the fight I had hoped that none of the boys would hit me back. Maybe shove but not actually hit.

My vision blurred as Steve's fist rushed towards my face. It hit me right in the jaw and made me stumble back a couple of steps and fall again onto my bottom. I didn't get to stand up because that's when Kevin, another one of the boys from the group, jumped over to me and put his foot on my chest to stop me from getting up, causing me to hit my head against a locker. I screamed as the pain infiltrated my head, unable to escape it. I shoved Kevin off of me and clutched at my head, as if cradling it awkwardly would ease the pain.

Ben, thinking that I faked injury, pushed Kevin out of the way and stood over me, prepared for me to assault him. I hissed out a breath of pain and slid on to my side while trying to escape the pain in my head and jaw.

I started to feel dizzy and nauseated before long. I groaned and then yelped again as I felt a jab at my head. Then I felt two firm hands lifting me up. The person was attempting to keep me from falling but weren't having much luck. I fell again, my butt in serious pain as well, and groaned a second time. I was picked up again but I remained in the air. There was some pressure on my stomach and my head hung upside down. Whoever was holding me up had swung me over their shoulder.

A few silent tears spilled from my eyes and I heard Kevin laughing nasally. "Look! The baby's crying!"

I couldn't take it, so I opened my eyes wider to get a better look at my surroundings and to spot where Kevin was. It wasn't a great view because whoever was holding me up had their back obscuring half my sight. My eyes immediately fell on Kevin's hunched over form. My anger prickled in my stomach.

"You better watch that mouth of yours, you creep!" I yelled, my voice raspy and scrappy.

Kevin was about to yell a remark back when Mrs. Fleming, the headmistress, stormed around the corner and made her way through the thick crowd.

"_What _is the meaning of this?" Her gaze snapped to Ben, whose mouth was freely bleeding, and who looked scared out of his pants. "I want an answer!" Mrs. Flemings voice cut off all sounds in the corridor.

Kevin, wanting to give me in so that I'd get in serious trouble, pointed at me, "She did it, miss! Carell started it! She just jumped at us and started swinging her fists!"

No one seemed surprised that Kevin happened to put the whole blame on me. Even if he thought he was super manly and the best, he never owned up for anything. And he certainly wasn't going to start doing so now, after a fight had just ensued that he could get in serious trouble for.

Mrs. Fleming turned sharply to look at me with the beady eyes. "Well, then Miss. Carell. Off to my office with you." Her neck was going red, a sign warning you that she was getting really mad. Everyone knew that after four years of her.

From her left side a short girl stepped away from the crowd, towards Mrs. Fleming and cleared her throat to get the headmistresses attention, "Um, I'm sorry but Leah didn't intend to do it. She just heard them guys laughing about ...Darren Shan." Her voice may have been soft and small but it was definitely heard thoroughly because it was so quiet in the hallway.

Mrs. Fleming's eyes turned on her, "And are you just trying to stand up for her? But I've found a way to not let anyone get away with murder here. Miss Carell, and you boys are coming to my office while the rest will go to the main office to call their parents to tell them they'll be late coming home because they have detention!" She pointed at me then at the gang of boys with either a black eye, broken nose or just a bruised face.

"But miss!" rang out throughout the corridor. I could see some students slipping away, trying not to get noticed as they made their escapes.

"Then the school itself will inform your parents. I will have no tolerance for people who watch fights for amusement, it makes them just as bad as the people fighting! Now off to class with all of you!" She barked the last sentence. "Mr. Dalton, please assist Miss Carrel to my office."

I looked up at the person holding me. Mr Dalton was a really nice teacher when you were on his good side, but things escalated very easily into doom if you weren't in his good book. I smiled my thanks for his help, but I wasn't sure if he could actually see my face at all. I wasn't sure that I would have been able to walk on my own.

Mrs. Fleming turned around and walked briskly towards her office around the corner and down the hall. Mr Dalton followed suit, not slowing down like I would have as we got closer to the office because he was in no fear of what would happen since it wasn't happening to him.

I cringed at the mere thought of getting a detention. I knew that if others got a detention for just watching then I'd get something much worse.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I obviously don't own the Darren Shan saga because otherwise I wouldn't be here.**

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Leah's life's a mess and it all began with her best friend's, Darren Shan's, death. It was when Steve's second chance came. It was when the most fatal mistake of her life happened.

* * *

Mrs. Fleming paced back and forth in her spacious office. It had a dark style, the desk made of a dark brown wood, the walls were a pale dark green, there was one gass shelf filled with encylopedias and another one filled with roll books. There were four big windows in the room and two were covered with lush dark green curtains making the room look a lush dark colour.

"It's unfortunate that we meet under such circumstances," she looked at us,"but I'm looking forward to getting to know all of you. I under stand that a student has died resently, a student who was you're best friend. I've already talked to your parents, at least those that I could reach and I am looking forward to reading your personal essays," she turned around to the TV set that had been carted in a few minutes ago and turned it on. "Ten thousand words about how the situation went down and why exactly. After that I shall hold a staff meeting on how to punish you. I will also conduct one-on-one interviews. Translated to what is wrong with you? Just because someone died does not mean that you can start acting like bad-mannered asses!" She pressed a button on the TV remote and the screen flickered and we were soon looking at a re-run of the fight.

"Do you agree to any consequences? If not, too bad. I want that essay on my desk by Friday morning and remember ten thousand words!" with a flick of her wrist we were pushed out by the secretary who seemed to want to please the strict headmistress.

The door to the office shut with a final bang to any arguments and I was left standing with Steve, Ben and Kevin next to me, all of us waiting to get an assigned time for our one-on-one interviews.

I couldn't imagine the look on my parents faces. They must know by now since mum was at home and would have been able to get the phone. I was curious as to what she said and how she reacted but I didn't want to push my luck by asking either Mrs. Fleming or my mum.

"Darling, here's your interview hour." Miss Collin said as she handed me a memo card with the time for my interview with the headmistress. Miss Collin was a kind woman who wanted to move up in her job. She had worked as the headmaster/mistresses secretary for nearly ten years as I remember. She was nice but she could do anything to please the headmistress, like snitching on you.

I sighed and took the memo," Thanks." I took off for my History class, a class that I hated, found intresting at times, and slept in most the time. In that order exactly.

I walked down the silent hallways and thought about ditching. I knew that I wouldn't get anywhere because now I knew that the school was infested with cameras. _Bathroom_ rang loud and clear through my head.

I turned left where I was supposed to turn right and made a bee line for the girls bathroom. I opened the door and saw that there was one girl in there.

It was the same girl that had stood up for me.

In the restroom lights her hair looked completely white and pulled back into a tight plait. Her eyes were shinning from tears that had previously spilled down her pale face. As far as I could see they were a steel blue, almost a metalic gray.

"Hey, are you okay?"I found myself saying before I registered anything else. She hadn't noticed that I had come in so she got a fright at the sound of my voice.

There was relief shown on her face when she saw that it was me. I suppose that she was hiding from someone,too, though I had the notch that it was a guy since you can't hide from a girl in the girl's restroom.

"Oh, I'm...fine, I suppose..."She sounded like she didn't even know how she felt. She wasn't the one who had done something that was considered unlady like. Plus, she didn't have to have a one-on-one interview with the new (and also scary) headmistress so I didn't see why she looked like she had a problem.

"Are you sure? You don't look good." I didn't know if I should have told her that her attempt at hiding her unknown problem from me was a lame one. I mean, this girl clearly was put down for a knuckle sandwich after school by the looks of it.

"Well, you saw how I practically snitched on Kevin Matern. He's gona kill me,"she gulped loudly as if to add effect.

Kevin Matern was one hell of a wimp. His record was filled up by complaints of his being always beating up girls. Yeah, not boys. He thought he was such a ma just because he beat up girls he didn't like. Ad the ones he actually liked were the ones he hit on (but those girls always wished that he'd beat them up instead!) I suppose it was from seeing his dad beating up his mom that he got the idea that it was manly. He obviously had no right idea of what manly was. He probably never would.

But there were some girls that Kevin never bothered either way. Well, actually only one girl, me. He knew that I had a nasty packed punch so he prefered to stay away. Today was proof that I had a nasty punch and that he was an idiot because he was gonna go home with a black eye and a broken nose. That'll shown him how 'manly' he is.

"If you want you can stick with me. He never bothers me," I said so almost proudly because no girl in the school liked him (though he thought they did) and were evious of me because he never bothered me, which made me happy. The part where he leaves me alone, I mean.

"You wouldn't mind me tagging along? I'm not very popular, you know, so I don't think you'd want me following you everywhere." She said, looking down at her feet. Why did it bother her so much if she wasn't exatly the most popular girl in school? Why would she care if I got any more unpopular than I already am just because I hung out with her?

"What makes you so sure that I don't wana hag out with you? It's not like I'm popular either!" I walked over to one of the mirrors to look at my face to see if there were any bruises.

I was surprised to find four already in their full glory. A fifth one was spotted by my temple. I reached out with my hand to check if it hurt more than I thought it would. As soon as my fingers grazed the purple tinged spot pain rang through my head. Now I know what they meant whe they said the temple was the thinest part of your skull which made it hurt worse then the rest. I hissed before resting my fingers on the bruise on the bridge of my nose. That one hurt,too.

As did the one on my left cheekbone. Ad the one just above my left eyebrow. The bruise that Steve had given me on my jaw line looked just as nasty as the the rest of them. I didn't even want to touch that one. I looked at the pale girl who was staring back at me before bending down and rolling up the leg of my pants to check up on any bruises on my knee that Ben or Kevin had kicked me in.

"That looks pretty nasty!" The girl squirmed at the sight of the huge browny-purple bruise that was renting my knee for the time being. I was hoping that it would go away as soon as possible.

"Yeah," I stood up and let the leg of the pants fall back down before I turned on the nearest tap to wash my hands of the dried up blood that had coated it from when I punched Ben.

"You look like you're about to faint. Please don't."I was looking at the miror in which I was able to see the girl. Whose name I still didn't know...

"Oh, um, I won't." She didn't look like she was sure about it or not.

"By the way, what's your name?"I decided to ask her personally instead of asking someone who might know her later.

She blushed a deep red. If I had offended her by ot kowig the name of the girl who had stood up for me then I was truly sorry._ Maybe I should apologize now..._But before I had a chance to open my mouth again she spoke.

"It's Emily. You've probably never heard of me. Though I'm in every one of your classes." She mumbled the last part, probably wishing that I wouldn't have heard.

"Sorry," I gave her a sheepish smile,"I usually sleep during them, or, well, I used to write notes with..." I didn't want to finish the sentence and I saw that she got who I was on about.

"I'm sorry about that," she gave me a sincere apology and a warm little smile.

Tears started to prick at my eyes and I was worried about breaking down again. _This is not going to happen again, Leah. Just think of something else_. I smiled my thanks and turned off the tap. Emily quickly handed me the roll of tissues that was on the counter. As I wiped my hands I spoke,"Well, I guess we better get to class, my friend!"

By the looks Emily was thrilled to have me as a friend. I got the impression that when she said she wasn't very popular she meant no friends included. Oh, well, two of us then.

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**Note:**

_Well, first off, sorry if I kept you waiting for long with this chapter but I had to get it perfect, or at least close to perfect._

_Second, I know that there are a lot of mistakes but I could only type this chapter out on my brother's computer (which has a really grumpy keyboard who wants to take refuge because coffee had been spilt on it too many times to count) and so anytime I pressed B it would triple it and add an X onto it. It annoyed me to a great extent until I finally found a USB stick. Then when I got it onto the memory stick I had to go to my mom's friend's house because my mom thought it would be fun to visit all her friends to wish them a merry christmas (and to, of course, give 'em their presents). Then I had to wait a couple of hours before I got the guts to ask my mom's friend if I could nip off to her computer/laptop. Once she left me alone in her study to do what I had wanted to do I got the USB stick out and was finally happy because I uploaded the chapter to . Then her computer tended to shut itself off twice while I was just about to save the chapter into the story thread. On my fourth try I finally got it and so here it is! So I couldn't do a spell check because she expeced me to come back soon to finish off my (possibly) seventh cup of tea (which I hate but was forced to drink by the woman). So please be happy with what you got._

_Merry Christmas!_


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author, me. I am in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended. To cut it short; I do not own the Darren Shan saga.**

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Leah's life's a mess and it all began with her best friend's, Darren Shan's, death. It was when Steve's second chance came. It was when the most fatal mistake of her life happened.

* * *

Emily finally got over the initial fact that I was now her friend. I wasn't sure how she felt about her lack of popularity but for me it seemed great to be free from crowds. Maybe every kid in the school did know my name (especially after what happened earlier on) but they weren't all over me because I had sorta made it clear that I didn't hang out with just anyone. I was glad for the space that I had away from everyone else. Darren and Steve had been the only people that I ever seen with. The other times I would be playing games with the other guys in my year.

I might have been a treasured football player but I didn't tend to make it to the guys' mate list. I suppose I could have been the perfect mate for a guy but since they were idiots they thought that being friends with a girl attomatically pointed out that the girl had a crush on the guy. That could be true but not many of the guys on the team were that good looking.

Playing football with the guys made the girls in my year see me as a total tomboy. Which I sure as hell definitely was. I didn't see the need to get up hours before school just to fix my hair and do my make up. I just put my hair into a ponytail and then I went downstairs to have breakfast. And I never bothered to get up early.

And that offered me no friendships with girls in my year. Well, with the exception of Emily now. But Emily didn't look like a total girly girl herself. She just wore skirts down to her knees and blouses all which her mother had previoucly picked out for her. I was indifferent to her mother's choice of clothes for her. It's not like the school was a runway.

I didn't look like a model either with what I chose to wear. Skirts were forbidden clothing in my wardrobe. Since I played a lot of sports at lunches and the like I always wore pants. Or capris pants. Or in the days close to summer I wore shorts. I didn't see the need for skirts. We weren't in the middle ages where dresses was all a woman was allowed to wear.

Of course, my mother had tried to get me into a skirt but it never worked. My dad abided with my side of the story. I lied and said that guys would act like total perverts if they saw me in a skirt. Mum didn't buy it, saying that I wouldn't know if they acted like that because I never tried. She also said that she'd like to have a lady in the family other than herself. I had two brothers that went to the same school as me except they were a few years ahead of me, Lucas having just finished school and Isaac was still in senior year. Mum thought it was all the time that I had spent with them that made me a total copy of a guy.

I was offended by that. I mean, I was presentable. I couldn't get the point of why wearing short skirts and revealing tops would be called lady like. I never got into _that_ many fights. I never burped after having a soda, and I never farted just for the sake of it. I just didn't wear skirts or gossip like an old woman which a lot of the girls at school did. And I played football with guys. So what?

My brothers had nothing to do with it. Lucas might have taught me how to do a few tricks in football but other than that nothing. Isaac spent too much time at his computer trying to solve the unsolvable to teach me anything except how to totally rock at being a nerd. Lucas and I did spend quiet a bit of time together but that was mostly pranking others. And now he was gone to college where his girlfriend attended, too. He had gotten a scolarship for his amazing show of affection towards sports and his girlfriend, Rebecca, wanted to be a model.

Isaac had no girlfriend but got request froms lots of colleges. Mom and dad were proud of him and said that they would let him choose himself.

Both of them had good grades, no matter what 'click' they were in. Mum and dad weren't very proud with my grades because I was totally failing french and sleeping through most of history. But I did do great in art, music and maths. I was so good at them that I was hoping for a recomendation or scolarship from Juliard. Mum was hoping that I'd be an accountant or some kind of business worker but I would never launch that kind of career.

Emily and I finally decided to go back to history class. It sure was fun to have a friend. Especially someone like Emily. When we had gotten to history the teacher dismissed us even though neither one of us had a hall pass. Emily had gone to the bathroom while the teacher had gone out of the classroom for a few minutes. And as for me, nor Miss Collin had given me a hall pass. Kevin and Steve had returned to class during the few minutes that the teacher was absent so the old man didn't even notice that they weren't there before he stepped out.

But, of course, with my bad luck I got called up to his desk after class. I was hoping that it would only be a remark about my absence for most of class, someing that would only take at the maximum five minutes. I wanted to go to my locker to grab my french books in time for the class. But luck wasn't on my side, just like it had never been.

"Miss Carell, I'd like a word with you, please." Mr Alwourd was an old dude who thought it was fun to get a lot of homework every night. His humour was definitely a few decades old.

I had been getting my books and when all of them were in my arms I trudged over to Mr Alwourd's desk."I know I was late to class but the headmistress wanted to see me in her office and then she forgot to write me a late slip. And I didn't have a hall pass or anything with me."

"I believe that Mr Leonard and Mr Matern were with you while you were in the headmistresses office? They cae back before you did."

How did the old man not guess himself that there was a possibility tht I had been in the bathroom? And I had been in the bathroom." Ihad been in the bathroom, sir." I voiced my thoughts. Though not all of them. Especially the ones where I thought he was a total ass for picking on me like that.

"And I see that sometimes you tend to fall asleep in my class." He went on as if I hadn't even said anything."And that is something that I do not like."

Well, if I were a teacher I wouldn't like any of my students falling asleep in my class but I wouldn't question them about it. I'd cut them some slack. But, of course, I was the opposite type of person from Mr Alwourd.

"I would like to see you actually paying attention in class and I recommend that you bring up that big, fat D- in the next test to a solid A+." As if I was even gonna give it a try!

"I am sure that you can do it since you no longer have the distraction of Mr Shan. I hated it when you and him would pass your silly notes. The damn ass made a mockery of my class." My face heated up when he said the last part. He couldn't be that cruel, could he? Cruel enough to call my dead best friend a damn ass.

Anger boiled in the very core of my stomach. He knew that Darren and I were the best of friends but he still openly called him an ass without even apologizing to me. He himself was an ass.

So much of an ass as to keep going."He was a no-good, cretin who didn't have any respect for his elders. None what so ever. I remember his father being just like that back in out day. Wasn't taught by the right kind of parents. I'm glad that he's dead, won't show any more of that horrible behaviour!"

That did it. If the old git thought that he could just say such things in front of me and not get a black eye then he was terribly wrong.

I lunged over the desk, scattering various objects in my hastewourd to get my hands on Mr Alwourd's throat. It had been easy to surprise him so he had stayed glued to his spot in the room, not bothering to jump out of the way.

Then my fists collided with his right eye. I knew that it would leave a black eye for him and a detention for me but I couldn't take it when someone badmouthed someone I care about.

"You will pay for saying those things about Darren and his family. I'll make sure myself!" I was gonna threaten him some more but I was cut off my two pairs of firm arms pulling me back. Two arms were wrapped around my left arm and the other two around my other arm. The grip hurt but I didn't care because all I could think of was how I really wanted to stuff a dirty sock in Mr Alwourd's big mouth. All the way down his throat.

I was turned around abruptly when I heard a voice I wished I hadn't. I knew there were going to be consiquences but I quess I never thought it really through before I lunged at the old git.

"Miss Carrel, I want an explanation. Now!" Ms Flemings words drowned out the moans that belonged to Mr Alwourd.

* * *

**Note:**

_Merry Christmas everyone! I'm not a person who really enjoys this time of year but I still wanted to be polite and wish you a happy day._

_This chapter is kind of short but it's something that you wanted. I hope you like it. If you have any questions don't be afraid to ask. And by the way, everyone in this (Leah, Steve, Darren) are sixteen -the ages the guys were in the movie. I wanted to go with those ages because it was easier that way for my plot. But the setting is still in the town that they all lived in, in the book (which is somewhere in Ireland, or at least that's what a lot of people think since the authors Irish.)_

_Review if you actually like this fanfic. That means that I'm not pushing you into doing something that you don't wanna do._


	4. Chapter 4

According to my mum I was addicted to trouble now. She knew no other reason other than Darren's death. And that meant that she kept asking me to visit a psychotrist, telling me that there were people that I could go to if I needed to talk abou it.

Dad knew better than to advise me to see a doctor and he rarely mentioned Darren, supposedly for my benefit.

When I had gotten home she practically screamed at me to get into the kitchen. Ah, the kitchen, a place that has suffered from my mum's rath one too many times.

"Leah Carrel, if you don't explain yourself this minute I might just chuck a vase at your head!" My dad was trying, unsuccessfully, to calm down my mother.

"Bill, how can you tell me to calm down when I get two calls from the school because our daughter got the urge to start fights?! I won't calm down!" I knew she was definitely beyond the capability of calming down.

"It wasn't my fault." That was all I decided to say before running upstairs. It really wasn't my fault, instead Mr Alwourd's. What did they expect me to do when my history teacher started to bad mouth my bestest friend? Since it was me who was listening to the words coming out of his mouth I decided that the old git should pay for ever saying such things about Darren.

I knew I was tearing them up inside, that I had worried them with the first cal about my first fight, but I couldn't stop it, I just couldn't help it. So I had punched the old man.

When I was taken off of Mr Alwourd by two other teachers Ms Fleming had yelled at me that I would be serving a week of detention and that I might face an expolsion for my actions.

By that time loads of students had gathered around to see what had happened. By the time that I got out of Ms Flemings office for the second time that day everyone knew the news that I had punched the living daylights out of Mr Alwourd. Isaac was waiting at Miss Colin's desk for me.

"Mum is gonna be so mad! I heard that this was your second time in the office. Leah how did you manage that?" I had glared before answering.

He wasn't really happy that guys had decided that it was okay to hit me just because I hit them first. Oh, well.

With my first adrenalin rush came the addictiveness to it. I never knew that something could be wanted so much. I knew it seemed like it helped only because I was having problems, what with Darren's death, rumours at school, and guys wanting to pick fights with me now. It was everything that I would have cried out for a month ago when I thought life was too boring. But now I wanted to curl up in bed and simply try to cry my worries away. Nothing would or could bring me out of that kind of mood.

School was a complete hell. The rumours weren't the worst thing there. It was how every teacher looked at me and some students had the same look on their faces. It was one that screamed pity, sympathy and sadness. They all knew that it was hard for me to try and move on, that I couldn't just forget Darren that easily, so they thought it best to recommend doctors to me.

_If one more person asks if I'm okay I will tear their head off!_

I was passing the principals office when the door swung open and out stepped Steve. He looked at me sadly, then as he brushed past me he handed me a piece of paper.

I just pretended that he hadn't passed me a note and kept walking until I heard Mrs. Flemings stern but weary voice call out to me.

"Will you please step inside my office, Miss. Carrel?" I had been about to make a sarcastic remark, which she sensed, but she interrupted me," It was a rhetorical question of course."

I had no choice but to go inside the office that I hated now. When I stepped in I felt the cold air surround me.

"I have reviewed your personal file. You have average grades in some subjects, while awful ones in other subjects. Your best subjects are art, music and maths. But it slightly feels like you are not commited to school what with your being getting into agressive fights and all,"Ms Fleming closed the file and loked up at me while she crossed her arms."You need to look at yourself and ask if you like the person who you are becoming. Oterhwise You will start to regret things in your life."

She had a serious look on her face which was the only facial expression she had. I was hoping by now that she wouldn't open her mouth again to recommend some shrink because of my 'problems' after Darren's death. I was going to go crazy if it was gonna keep going on and on like that.

"Another reason why I called you here is because it is decided that you are not going to be expelled. The staff and I watched the video that was taped in the room in which you tended to punch Mr Alwourd in. I believe your cause was because Mr Alwourd said some unsatisfaying words about Mr Shan? Am I correct?"

I nodded, not trusting myself to speak if, accidentally, I might have called Mr Alwourd some bad name in front of the headmistress.

"Alright. But that does not mean that your behaviour is excused. You are still going to face a week of detention. As for that fight ealier on today. I understand that you were yet again provoked but what other people say about Mr Shan is none of your business. They'll be those people who live a life of guilt and shame. Their lives will be filled with sins. Sins that they will not try to apologize for to God." I looked up at the woman to see if she was still serious and sure enough she was.

I smiled, or more like tried to muster up anything that looked remotely like one to show my thanks for her understandment.

"So your time is starts with today. So go and get a late pass from Miss Collins and hop off to your french class." I think that the woman thought it was cool to say 'hop off' to students. It wasn't. Especially after telling me what she had told me.

"Right, sure. Thanks." I pointed at her with both my index fingers and started to walk backwards towards the door. Yeah, awkward.

I nearly ran out the rest of the way. I stopped by Miss Collins desk to ask for my late to class slip. With that I took off for french before I could miss anymore of it. I couldn't miss anymore of it because then I'd totally flunk it and then I'd probably never get out of my parents house.

Just as I was going around the last corner towards french when I was pulled backwards. I opened my mouth to scream but a hand prevented me from doing so when it clasped around my mouth. With that I was dragged away into a nearby broom closet.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: Any characters originally from the Darren Shan saga are not mine. Only my original characters (Leah, Emily, etc.) belong to me. No copyright infringement is intended. **

Leah's life's a mess and it all began with her best friend's, Darren Shan's, death. It was when Steve's second chance came. It was when the most fatal mistake of her life happened.

Usually in the horror movies that anyone watched, there were always clichés that some people themselves yell at. Like, why were the main characters walking into the woods, right into the bad guy's trap? All those kinds of things. Cliché they may be, but needed they are, too.

I'm not saying that I would do anything like that if anything horrifying happened to me but that sort of thing seemed to provide a rush of adrenaline. So much of it that I almost thought that I was simply excited to be dragged into a broom closet by God knows who.

Fear wasn't really a factor of the emotions that I currently felt. I mean - it was hardly plausible if there was a killer in the school. Or a psycho with a chainsaw. They'd hardly have been able to get in. And if they had been able to, or were - let's just hypothetically say - a _student_ then going around with any big killing machine would have been an eye sore. And the cameras would have caught them already. Or at least some passing student.

_But, of course, there were always weapons like daggers that could easily be concealed_, a voice at the back of my head whispered.

Though, where they could have gotten one was beyond me - this whole town could have been nursery safe. Kids were never found with alcohol on hand or in their system, guns and knifes were locked away by parents who never found their keys missing, no one crashed cars, spray painted walls, or even littered. It was a quite, happy-family town with nice scenery. That's all. It was like every parent's wet dream.

"I'm going to take my hand away from your mouth and you're going to keep your mouth shut," a gruff voice said. I managed to nod my head through them holding me so tightly.

I was quickly released and then spun around. I nearly laughed with the sight that I was met with.

Kevin stood in front of me, sporting the black eye that I had given him and a split lip to accompany the former.

"What the heck do you want?"

"To talk. You see you seem to misunderstand how serious it is to cross paths with someone like me." I kept myself from laughing at the thought of Kevin possibly bringing his hands together to rub them against each other in a mad scientist way. Also the image of him having the New York-Italian accent that so many mafia members seemed to have in movies didn't help. He may as well have been cast as a bad guy in some James Bond movie in my mind.

"I wouldn't find this amusing if I were you."

"Oh really? I just simply can't help myself - Don." I _couldn't_ help myself from calling him Don, though I managed to leave Lino out.

"Yeah. You may think that you're safe from me, but you're not." I don't know if he purposely tried to look menacing or not but the look on his face just made me crack up. Any worry about any possible serial killer left my mind then and there and my mind was simply bombarded with jokes and one liners that I could crack in front of Kevin. And possibly his friends. Or the whole population of the school.

"Why are you laughing?" Kevin seemed frantic now, loosing his calm and collected exterior.

"Because this is too funny. Did you think that you could drag me in here and tell me to fear for my life or something? Man, that's just putting you into a new light. One where you look stupid." I stopped laughing, and straightened up. "Don't think that you can push me around and think you own me. You can't and don't."

"Oh, I doubt that. There are so many stories I could spread around about you that will have you look like my dog."

"I hardly think anyone would believe that if they knew me."

"And that would just make me look all the better - me having beaten you."

"But you just haven't beaten me at anything. And you probably never will. You're a pathetic excuse of a guy, and a friend." My voice turned serious.

"Still on about Shan, I see." He shook his head, a smile playing over his lips.

"Yeah - here's what I don't get; you acted like his friend all these years and then all of a sudden you just turn against him after he dies and make fun of him. What gives?" I crossed my arms over my chest and stared at him.

"Hey, I wasn't the only one. Leopard did it as well. And the other guys. You make it sound like I'm the ring leader of a gang set against Shan."

"No, you would never be the ring leader - but you are the right hand man. Leonard" - for I refused to use Steve's nickname because what it stood for - "must have been up all night storing up all those jokes."

"Yeah, well, we were just having a laugh - us guys do that." He frowned and his eyes darted away from mine.

"At a dead friend. How touching and heartfelt of you guys - you must be so bummed about his death."

"At least we don't go around and start fights because we don't like some people!"

I uncrossed my arms and put my hands on my hips. "Look, I could argue with you about what you did for hours before I'd be able to make _any _kind of breakthrough in that head of your's but I've better things to be doing. Like getting back to class before I get into more trouble."

"You think that I'm just going to let you go this easily?" Kevin asked as I opened the closet door. His hand came up behind me and pushed the door shut again.

I turned back to face him, a coil smile on my lips. "Yeah, I expect you to do just that - because there is no way that you'd be able to hold me back." I brought up my hand and gently poked him in his black eye.

"Hey-ow!" He cringed back, bringing his hands up to shield his face from me.

"See how easy that was?" I said with a note of amusement in my voice.

"I'll get you yet! Just you wait!" He called after me, and when I turned around to look at him he waved his fist menacingly at me.

Kevin was just a fool who was up for doing some other guy's bidding just to be in the tough gang. And now that Darren was out of the picture he was second up for batting. Steve and Darren had run the school as the hooligans and now it could be him and Steve - and he liked the sound of him being in charge of something.

I shook my head sadly. Steve would just use him for his amusement. He had done so with our friendship at the beginning. Then Darren had forced him to be nicer - and even that had come with a price.

Thinking of Steve as I walked to my next classroom, I put my hand in my pocket and finished around for the note that he had given me. I slipped it out and wearily opened it.

I raised my eyebrow as I read it. What did he mean? What did he possibly have to say to me now? And in private?

I shook my head again, more vigorously this time, and crumpled up the piece of paper that had been obviously ripped out of one of his homework copies.

'_Meet me tonight at the park. Don't be late.' _

**Author's note:**

I am _sooooooooo _sorry! There should be _way more O's in that so but alas - I am running out of time to write this. My bedtime sucks!_

_Anyway, moving on! This should have been out WAY sooner but I just couldn't find the time. My homework began to pile up on the FIRST DAY of school, even! I was surprised myself. But now, here is the very, very, very much anticipated chapter of the story. Once again, I am so sorry for this awful delay. The updates for this month may not be very regular - ugh - because I'm doing the NaNoWriMo this year._

_Please review is you like!_


	6. Chapter 6

**Book 1:**

_CIRQUE DY FREAK:_

NIGHT'S SLAVE:

Walking home now was too difficult a task it seemed. I dragged my feet and it seemed that my school bag weighed way more than it actually did. Oh, the sorrows of having my bike confined as part of my punishment. It had been dad's idea to confine it since he seemed to know that if he sent me to my room he would just let me out early out of guilt. The same would happen if I was banned from not watching the TV - he was the softer of the two of my parents.

I turned the handle of the front door and let myself in. I had wasted almost forty five minutes walking home from school and knew that mom must have noticed by now.

"Finally!" I cringed as I let my bag slide from my shoulders to the floor and hung up my coat.

"Honey bear, where have you been?" Dad's head peeped out from the kitchen doorway.

"Dad, I've _told _you not to call me that anymore!" I sighed, shaking my head.

"Sorry, hone- Leah. Your mother and I were worried that something had happened to you."

I walked through the threshold of the kitchen and went straight for the fridge. "Well, not having bike privileges isn't fun - for me or for you it seems." I rummaged around in the fridge and found a slice of leftover pizza and a can of Isaac's energy drinks.

"If you think that something you'll say will get you your bike back, then forget about it," my mother said, glaring lightly at me. "And put that back in - dinner's almost ready."

I looked from the pizza in one hand to the can in the other hand. "But I have to replenish my energy from that super tiring walk I had to make all the way from school…"

Mom sent me another glare, her face turning slightly pink. "That might work with your father but I'm not a gullible idiot."

"Hey!" My father protested, his head popping out from behind the fridge door where he had been searching for a brownie most likely.

My mother ignored his exclamation and went on. "Put it back in the fridge and go upstairs to start on your homework - God forbid that you get into more trouble over homework! I'll call you when dinner is ready." That seemed to be the end of the discussion so I did as she said and glumly left the kitchen and trotted up the stairs - thumping on the already slightly creaky steps with more force than needed to get my feelings across to her.

As I stepped into my bedroom I heard her angrily call to dad, "I saw that! Put the brownie back!" Even dad couldn't escape mom's hawk eye it seemed.

Chuckling quietly to myself I closed the door and threw my back pack on to the floor near the desk that I had gotten last year for my birthday - which had books and random papers strewn all over it.

I strolled over to my bed and threw myself on to it. My tired muscles relaxed slightly and begged for me to simply shut my eyes and everything else out and just fall asleep. After a few minutes of contemplating of whether to actually fall asleep or get back up to do my pile of homework I sighed and opened my eyes. I quickly stretched before sitting up and sluggishly moving towards my bag and throwing out all the books from it onto my bed. Today was a lazy day, I decided as I sat cross legged on the bed rather than the way my mom told me to at the desk. What she couldn't see wouldn't really hurt her.

I reached for my maths book and opened to the marked page and looked at the first question. For once in my life I wished that I was one of those typically funny smart kids they call nerds who wore huge glasses, had buck teeth, and had the whole nerd thing hands down by putting their pens and pencils into the breast pocket of their super neat button up shirts. In TV shows and movies they were too smart for their own good. _And _always seemed to find all homework simply too easy. Because nothing about geometry for me was easy.

So far all the questions we had been getting for homework came back all wrong and the latest test had been a complete failure. Geometry was not in cahoots with me. And I surely did not feel like being all that much in cahoots with it. _Who needs this in life anyway? Not like I'll go to a store one day and randomly need to figure out the slope of a shelf._

I stared at the problem for about ten more minutes before moving onto the next one which was no less difficult. Who came up with all this maths garbage anyway?

Before I could give up again and move on a light knock on my door could be heard. I said 'come in' and waited patiently.

The door slowly opened and my dad's head peeked in cautiously, only his forehead and eyes visible. He reminded me of when I was younger and forgot that when I spied on people from hiding places they would clearly be able to see my head.

"What's the crack, Dad?"

"Um…" he mumbled, unsure of himself or what I'd asked.

I sighed. "I mean, what's going on? What is happening? What's the dealio? What is it that you old people say to each other?"

Dad relaxed and stepped into the room. He cracked an easy grin that had the skin at either side of his eyes creasing up. "Hey!" He exclaimed dramatically. "I'll have you know that I am not that old!"

"Oh yeah? What are you? About a hundred and sixty by now?" I teased.

"Oh, how you drive a sharp sword through my chest!" He cried, bringing both hands up to his chest. After a second he dropped them and cringed. "Oh, right, I was supposed to tell straight away to be quiet."

"Did mom send you up to tell me that? I haven't said one thing since I came in!"

"No, no. Not your mother. I just don't want her to overhear this conversation."

My ears pricked up at the mention of something hidden from mom. Those kind of things were always promising. "Well, well, well. Now you must tell me what you're up to!" I comically rubbed my hands together as though I was some evil mastermind with a great plan.

"Well…I was thinking last night and then after you got back just a while ago and I decided that maybe your mother and I have been a bit harsh with your punishment."

Something clicked in my head and I immediately knew what to do next.

"Oh, Dad, if mom finds out that you're talking about this with me she'll be furious and make my punishment worse!"

"I'm sure she won't know about this," he said uneasily, checking behind his back to make sure the door wasn't open.

"Well, if you need to know then… it's really hard without my bike. Usually I'd get home from school quickly and wouldn't need to walk too far with a heavy bag." I decided that the only way to get my bike back early was to fool dad. Guilt might come at some later stage but I really needed that bike.

I was _not _planning on walking all the way to the park to meet with Steve. That buggered place was all the way on the other side of town - closer to Steve's place rather than mine.

"Oh, dear, that's what I was worried about. And it's getting darker earlier this time of year."

"It definitely is," I agreed.

"Hmm…maybe…"

I nodded approvingly, silently goading dad to make the decision to just go behind mom's back and give me my bike back.

"Maybe…maybe Isaac can give you lifts home as well as to school…"

I quickly as I had begun nodding and quickly began shaking my head from side to side. "I'm pretty sure Isaac's very busy…with homework…and friends…and his work!"

"He's your brother, I'm sure he can cut out a bit of time for you. Especially when it could mean saving you from dangerous situations on the way home!"

I was stilling shaking my head but more slowly this time. "I don't know…."

Dad's face lit up and he smacked his fist into his other palm. "That's settled then! Perfect!"

I felt like smacking my head with my palm but that would have been too suspicious…even for my dad…

Dad stopped at the door and turned around. "I'm happy now to know that my honey bear is going to be all safe and sound." He smiled and closed the door behind him. After I could no longer hear his footsteps on the staircase I turned back to my desk and slammed my head down on the hard surface. I winced at the pain but didn't get up.

_Knock_, _knock_.

I sighed and turned towards the door. "C'mon in!"

The door opened and Isaac stepped in. "I heard you and dad." He smirked.

I glared at him. "And? You've got nothing on me to grass about, dad didn't give me my bike back."

"I don't care about that bit. Just know that I will not agree to give you lifts to and from school ever day."

"What am I supposed to do then! No one else gets into your car anyway, it's so bad! I'll probably be the first person to sit in it apart from you and the dead guy before it!"

Isaac's smirk feel and he glared at me now. "No dead guy owned the car previously!"

"Well, since your car is from the Stone Age it seems, a Flintstones must have driven it - and they're long gone."

"You can definitely forget about car rides to school now…" Isaac said with a grin on his face and he slowly walked backwards towards the door.

"Oh, lighten up and learn to take a joke!" I cried and he dashed out of my room.

I sighed. Great. No bike for my great plan of sneaking through the night for a secret meeting _and _no ride to school or back home. This was just great.

"Dinner is ready!" Mom yelled up from the bottom of the staircase.

xxx

I quietly opened my bedroom door and stepped outside. The house was completely silent and I wondered if I'd be able to sneak out without anyone - particularly mom - noticing.

I took a step and immediately sprang back, the sound of something crumpling under my foot too loud in the silence of the rest of the house. I looked down and saw a piece of paper. I bent down and picked it up quickly.

'_Bike. Shed. Door unlocked. Payment shall be included_.'

I rolled my eyes but smiled nonetheless. Isaac could always be trusted to do something like this. And the payment was also always to be expected to be handed over for the small job.

I watched my steps as I made my way down the stairs slowly. I tried not to step on the creaky areas but after doing so three times I had to stop to listen for any moment upstairs. All was clear.

I made it into the kitchen and used the back door to exit the house. I stalked over to the shed and checked the door and true to his word, Isaac had unlocked it. I got the bike out as quietly as possible and wheeled it around the house to the front.

As I cycled down the road the gentle wind picked up stray strands of my hair and blew it out behind me and lightly tugged at my clothes. I had thrown my extra large pyjamas over the clothes that I had on earlier and had quickly stripped of the top and pants before leaving.

As I neared the park I saw a silhouette. Steve stood with his back to me and when I came closer he turned around and sent a glare at me. I skidded to a stop right next him and gave him a questioning look.

"What the heck took you so long?" He whispered loudly, his eyes scanning the area as though checking for any random person walking by.

I smiled sweetly, showing more teeth than was necessary.

"You never specified _when_."

**Author's note:**

_Alright_! I actually got this out on time! I'm so proud of myself -insert a toothy grin here -

Well, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Originally I had planned the house scene to be way shorter and for the scene with Steve to be over at the end of the chapter but I guess this chapter had plans of its own. But, all of next chapter is going to be Steve…and whatever he wanted to talk to Leah about. I thought it would be best to better establish the home scene at this moment.

Another thing; I have worked out my schedule for this story. There will be an update every Wednesday and Friday/Saturday. I have more times those day to write so those days are the ones you are most likely to see an update for. It I don't update on those days it'll be the say after it then.

Review if you liked this chapter! Share the love, readers!


	7. Chapter 7

**Book 1:**

_CIRQUE DY FREAK:_

NIGHT'S SLAVE:

"You never specified when I was to turn up." I grinned, laughing on the inside at the knowledge that I had annoyed him.

"I was about to leave, you're lucky that you arrived a few minutes early."

"Oh, yes, because I _really _needed to be here. I could have stayed in bed. I could have ditched you out here." I said sarcastically. "And anyway, you were the one who wanted something from me."

"I said on the note not to be late," he mumbled quietly as he turned around to face away from me. He slowly paced towards the large oak standing a few feet away and I followed, not really sure what to do.

"Steve?" I asked tentatively.

"What?" He grumbled, only jerking his head to the side to show me that he was listening.

"What the heck did you call me out here for?" My tone was still sarcastic and I was pretty sure that I was just annoying him more.

"Be patient!"

"That was more Darren's thing than…mine…" I trailed off, aware that I had stepped into deep waters. This was not a topic that would have been considered safe to talk about with Steve Leonard.

"Actually, that's the reason why I asked you to come out here."

"What?"

"I asked you to come here so that we could talk about…"he faltered, as though he wasn't sure whether he'd be able to say his once best friend's name, and then regained his stoic expression, "Darren."

"You asked me to come out here so that we could talk about _Darren_?" I looked at Steve with disbelieving eyes. Dragged out of a warm bed to cycle through the cold night just to talk about someone who easily could have been talked about at school? That wasn't getting through my thick head.

Steve looked at me wryly. "Are you going to keep repeating yourself like a broken record? Yes, I wanted to talk about _Darren_." His voice was stronger now. He crossed his arms and let his eyes fall to the ground.

I almost burst out laughing. "I…You…Why didn't you just talk to me about him at lunch?"

"Kevin and the guys always hang around me now. It's impossible to get away from Kevin. Even if I hide in the toilets - he just pokes his head in to ramble on about how he did this or that." He glanced up at me, as though checking for my reaction. "He's kind of getting on my nerves now."

"Oh, poor Kevin, then. You're his sun and moon. What would he do without you if you just set him straight about your friendship." I rolled my eyes, sarcasm never failing me.

"It's not always that easy to drop people. They get easily offended over small things."

"You're talking as though you're some wise old guy who has enough knowledge to say that," I added drolly, raising my eyebrows in a mocking way.

"I'm just saying what I know."

"You must have practised in front of a mirror," I jabbed, a smirk playing over my lips. It dropped immediately as I became conscious of the fact that I was smiling around Steve. Because of something he said. Awareness of simply standing here and talking to him flooded into my mind.

_He was a jerk. Don't let him off easy_.

"So…what about Darren?" I asked, hoping that he could just move on. No matter how interesting it was to talk about how lame Kevin could be I wasn't up to getting cosy and chummy with Steve again.

He looked up as though startled that I changed the subject so acutely and brought his hand up to scratch the back of his neck.

"Oh…I… I just wanted to apologize."

Silence filled the air as we just stood there, Steve unsure of what to do and me unsure of what to reply with. Words soon formed in my head.

"That's _it_?"

Steve looked directly at me and huffed. "Fine, I am terribly sorry that I dared to make a tasteless joke about someone who was my best friend and who di-"

"No!" I interrupted. "I meant; that's it? That's all you had to say? Just an apology?"

Steve blushed, embarrassed about his mistake. This was new. A blush. On Steve. It was…almost…sacred.

"Oh…I…yeah, I guess."

"You could have just phoned me to tell me that!" I exclaimed.

"What's the difference? Here, there?"

"The difference is that if you had called I wouldn't have had to sneak out of the house in the middle of the night when I already am grounded and have my bike privileges taken away from me. It would have saved a lot of hassle. Plus, my 'rents are going to think now that I picked the shed lock to _get _my bike out!"

Steve cringed away from me, as though my voice boomed through his eardrums. He put up his hands defensively. "All right, all right! Sorry, I didn't think."

I nodded my head briskly in an obvious manner, in agreement with the last part.

"I just had to see someone."

This caught me off guard and a stared at the boy before me with wide eyes. Steve was the kind of guy to never admit to anyway - lest it have been Darren - that he needed anyone.

His voice slightly cracked when he spoke next. "It's just…so hard. He left me and I can't seem to understand that properly. It's like my head is trying to convince me that he'll show up on Monday and ditch Science class with me. But then I have to stop and tell myself he _won't_."

I cast my eyes down, almost afraid to look, in fear of seeing his glistening eyes. "It's surreal."

"Exactly! It makes me think about how quickly we can all die. I could cross the road tomorrow morning and never make it across because some driver could run me down. Life is…" he paused, unable to find the right word.

Quietly, I murmured, "_Fragile_. Life is fragile."

Steve sniffed and wiped at his face with the sleeve of his jacket. "I keep waiting for him. But he'll never show. There are so many things that I need him for. I need him to get through life - without him it looks harder." He sniffed again, and this time I could tell that tears were blinding him.

"You'll just have to keep a strong grip on the memory of him."

"Not just that." He looked up, revealing a red nose and slightly puffy eyes. "We have to stay together - in memory of him."

I didn't know what to make of this. Steve had done a whole one-eighty and was puzzling me even further. But it was …touching.

I didn't know what to say so I just nodded. "He'd want us to be friends," I found my voice.

"Yeah." He smiled sadly. He had huddled over slightly but now stood up straight.

"Eh…thanks, I suppose, for coming out here this late and…listening to me. I know I don't exactly deserve it."

I nodded silently and waited for his next move because I was at a loss of what to do.

He shuffled his feet and stared at the ground as though there was an intricate design to it.

I broke the silence that hung between us by clearing my throat and motioning towards my bike.

"Well, I better head back before risking my mom waking up to check up on me. She has a strange intuition when it comes to me and mischief." I smiled and stepped back.

Steve laughed and nodded his head. "At least your's grounds you. Mine doesn't care anymore." The thought of Steve's mum brought a frown to my lips but I quickly turned to face my bike before Steve could catch it. Pity was not in his good books.

Ms. Leonard had been a single mother for almost eleven years now and was a woman who I praised in my mind for holding on this long. Especially when Steve tended to make her life hell for her. He felt she was at fault for some major confusion in his life, and she was just a mother who didn't want to ruin her child's worship of his (bad) father. I felt that it was unfair to her, to take the blame so selflessly. She was just a human being after all.

"I'll see you tomorrow then," Steve said from behind me. I turned my head to see that he was already on his bike. I quickly mounted mine and waved goodbye.

Soon the cold wind was blowing my hair out of my face and chilling my bones. On the ride back home all I could think about was Steve and how much he had changed from what I could remember of him.

_Was that how he always acted around Darren_?

This wasn't even something I could easily solve. I couldn't just go up to Darren and ask him. He was gone now, complicating everything.

And it clicked. Blame was easiest to put on the absence - it wasn't there to confront you. So how could Steve so easily blame his mother for the world around him? He could blame Darren for leaving us all - I understood it now. Grief over his death made us all just angry at him for ever leaving in the first place.

And Darren had once disclosed to me that Steve felt like that everyday.

**Author's note:**

Woo! Exams are over and I'm back. I just barely remembered that I had to update today. But, it's all good - I got it under control pretty quickly.

Hopefully this is a good chapter. If Leah seems a bit confused at the end, she's supposed to be that way because she is now trying to crack Steve's secret - well, his persona. Cause he's like a mystery to her. I hope you enjoyed it!

Review if you liked it. Your reviews fill my heart with love and that sends energy throughout my body and makes me write these chapters faster!


	8. Chapter 8

**Book 1:**

_CIRQUE DU FREAK:_

NIGHT'S SLAVE:

Over the years I had achieved a great load of deeds. I had managed to befriend a group of boys when I was expected to have play dates with other little girls my age. I had managed to command respect from said group of boys. I had managed to disobey almost every rule my mother had ever set out for me and I had managed to tie my father around my little finger.

But my mother had also achieved a great many tasks. She had managed to figure me out ever since I had come into the world. And that was a big disadvantage for me.

"How dare you go against my rules?" Mom slammed her hand down onto the kitchen table.

I was the only one sitting. Mom was too busy fuming and ranting at me to chill and sit and Dad was tiredly looking through the fridge.

My mission to get back into the house without being busted was a complete failure. The lights had flashed on the moment that I had closed the back door behind me and I had turned to find my mother. To say that I was dead was an understatement.

"I-" before I had a chance to say anything mom cut past me.

"What has gotten into you lately? Starting fights with classmates, hitting a teacher, and now; sneaking out of the house in the middle of the night! What have you to say for yourself?"

I sighed and opened my mouth. "If you ju-"

"Have you any idea how dangerous that was? What if some stranger had found you? What if you'd been kidnapped? How can you just sit there and not say anything?" Mom crossed her arms across her chest and paced back and forth, sparing me a few glares.

I huffed and lifted my hand, as though I was in class.

"Bill! She's giving me attitude! At a time like this!" Mom threw her hands up into the air as dad moved away from the fridge, gently kicking the door closed. In his hands was a cold slice of pizza.

"Breathe, Anne, let the kid talk," Dad shrugged, taking a large bite from the pizza slice. He slowly munched on the bite, looking like he just wanted to fall asleep just about anywhere by now.

Mom huffed and waved her hand in the air again. "Fine! Leah, talk!"

My eyes widened as I realised that now mom was listening to me. She waited, impatient as ever, tapping her foot on the linoleum floor. I looked around wildly, a millions thoughts running through my head. What was my excuse?

Mom wouldn't take it too kindly that I sneaked out to see a boy. Steve Leonard of all boys, in fact. She'd be mad even if I snuck out to see a girl.

"I'm waiting, Leah Amelia Rosemarie Carell." I cringed internally at the use of my full name and just stared forward, my hands clammy from the pressure.

And then I was struck by an idea.

I softened my features, and drew my eyebrows together, frowning slightly. "I know I shouldn't have done it, but…It's just with everything that's happened lately…"

"Go on," Mom said through her teeth, glaring at me, her arms now crossed over her chest again.

"I just wanted to visit Darren's grave stone!" I sniffed at add more effect. No one could blame me here - wanting to see a deceased friend wasn't something people could generally be blamed for.

"Darren?" Mom's face softened as the words sunk in. Dad, having finished his pizza slice, looked at me, startled.

"Yeah, Darren. I haven't been able to get over …it yet."

"Oh, honey bear! You could have just told us so from the beginning! We could have even gone in the morning, all together, if that's what you wanted. You never said anything." Dad, flopped into the chair next to mine and put his arm around my shoulders.

Oh, they were buying it, all right. But I still had to make sure that mom wasn't suspicious.

She sighed deeply and put her hand up to her head, to massage her temple. "That isn't an excuse, young lady." She sat down and looked at me.

"It was still dangerous what you did. And all that just so you could see your friend. Leah, this situation needs to improve. You can't keep taking drastic action."

"I promise that was the last time," I shook my head, my hand over my heart. I don't think it was even worth sneaking out. From the cold night air to the inevitable punishment that was going to be delivered, I believed that everything Steve had said could have been said over the phone.

"Oh, young lady, I will stay up all night if I have to make sure myself that this was the last time!" Mom threatened. I didn't doubt that she _would _stay up all night just to be safe in the knowledge that I was in my bed, asleep.

"I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to worry you."

Dad blew a raspberry, looking around the kitchen as he muttered "I'm sure you are" under his breath. Mom pretended not to hear it while I gave dad my best hurt and apologetic face.

"Well, you can go upstairs and actually go to bed this time. If I hear one creak of the floorboards, you better believe it that I will literally follow you everywhere." With that she dismissed me with the wave of her hand.

As I quickly went up the stairs her voice drifted up to me. "And definitely believe that there will be a fine, grand punishment awaiting you tomorrow!" I cringed and ran the rest of the way to my bedroom.

* * *

"So if the Limit is…."my maths teacher droned on. We had started Calculus a while ago and most of the class spent the hour scratching their heads' in confusion. Anyway, who really cared about Limits and x's and y's? Who needed those kinds of things in real life?

I stared blankly at the board, just wishing that the time would fly by faster so that I could finally go grab some lunch. I had skipped out on breakfast due to waking up late. Mom had said that that's what I deserved for sneaking out during the night.

Ever since I had arrived in school I hadn't seen neither head nor tail of Steve and I was getting a sneaking suspicion that he would ignore me around Kevin and his gang.

I heard a "Psst" from behind me and as soon as the teacher had his head turned away I flipped around and assessed the people sitting at the back of the room. Steve's face caught my eye, his hand gesturing at me.

I scrunched my face up, confused. What did he want?

He gestured again, at me and made some weird sign, like a box or square. A dig at my back had me looking at a rather annoyed looking girl who was holding out a small folded piece of paper.

I took it gratefully from her and ignored the rest of Steve's hand gestures. I opened the squared paper and let my eyes skim through the message.

_Thanks again for meeting me yesterday. I was wondering if you wanted to hang out at lunch._

I sighed and tried to hold back from turning to look at Steve. I wasn't in the mood to get into any more trouble than I was already in. I was pretty sure that I was at the top of the meter for mom's anger and that she would kill me if I came home with a note from a teacher. There was only so much that she could endure from me and my mischievous ways.

I quickly scribbled out the message and stuffed it into my pants pocket. I also wasn't in the mood for anyone like Kevin or Lacy Royce to accidentally see the note. People like them assumed too much, most of which was hardly ever true.

The bell rang soon enough and kids were running out of the classroom, ignoring the teacher's warning to take all the homework down off the board. I gathered my things and stood up. Steve was at the very back of the classroom, having snagged one of the good seats. I stood awkwardly, not knowing what to do. Did he expect me to walk up to him now? Or later?

My decision was made for me when Kevin walked past me and knocked my books out of my hands.

"You better watch yourself or you'll be walking into everyone, Carell," Kevin snickered as though he'd made the best joke to ever reach anyone's ears. He strutted out of the classroom, a few guys falling in line behind him, as if they were his gang.

Someone spoke up behind me as my eyes trailed after Kevin and his posse. "Don't mind him, he's just in a bad mood since this morning."

I looked back to find Steve already bending down to pick up my books. I kneeled down and pushed all my papers into a messy stack, throwing them into my folder. Steve reached for my heavier books.

"What got his panties in a twist then?" I was curious. I had expected Kevin to follow behind Steve like he was his god.

"This morning I told him that I was bored of him and that he shouldn't prance around me anymore. I think I made him sound too much of a girl when I told him that." Steve laughed gently, standing up. I followed suit and grabbed my books from his outstretched hand.

"Thanks."

"So, do you wanna eat lunch together?"

"Won't that be weird though?" I started walking towards the door, wanting to run towards the food in the cafeteria and beg it to make me a happy woman.

Steve shrugged as he held onto one strap of his school bag. A weird feeling of déjà vu came over me and I imagined Darren shrugging like that. It had been Darren idea to always wear their sacks like that, over just the one shoulder - to look tough, I never knew the reason behind it. And now, dressed in a checkered shirt and what to me looked like cargo pants, Steve looked like a vision of Darren. The only difference was the hair. Steve had always had such fair hair that it was almost a light silver or gray.

"I don't really care. Kevin's not going to be a bother - and if he is I know how to deal with him."

"Great!" I shoved my books into my bag and roughly grabbed Steve by the sleeve and began dragging him towards the cafeteria. "Can we get a move on? I'm all for having table manners but soon enough I will have to literally shove food down my throat to appease the lion currently committing suicide in my stomach!"

With a carefree laugh, Steve hurried up his pace and we walked to the cafeteria.

**Author's note:**

Yeah, just totally updated. Alright! Now I have to apologize for how much this chapter must suck. I tried my best but I felt like I was forcing it too much and that anymore would make the whole thing go up in flames. But there's at least something to read! I will try to get the next chapter posted by next weekend, and hopefully it will be much better.

Review if you enjoyed at least a bit of this. These reviews are like my bread and butter - without them I starve….I really do. *.*


	9. Chapter 9

**Book 1:**

_CIRQUE DY FREAK:_

NIGHT'S SLAVE:

I was great at a lot of things. Comic drawings, cracking jokes, being annoying to almost all human beings in the small town of Bloomsville, putting myself down in the history of Bloomsville High. And I was good at wolfing down my food.

Having grown up being the only girl in the family and not wanting to be like my mother - "There is nothing wrong with _not _being a lady!" - I wasn't one to really notice my eating manners, or particularly care about them.

"How can you do that?" Steve stared at me, recovering from being dumbstruck at my ability to eat at a fast pace.

I slowed down, chewing slowly and swallowing. "I never particularly noticed that there was anything special about how I eat."

"For a girl you eat like a pig. It's not the food will run away." Steve wrinkled his nose in distaste, the image of my mother when the family sat at the dinner table. I brought a hand up to wipe at my mouth but on second thoughts grabbed the napkins that I had grabbed on my way out of the cafeteria. I gently dabbed at my mouth and chin, now self-conscious of my table manners.

A feeling of déjà vu came over me like a wave and I suddenly forgot where I was.

It had been the summer before second class when I had officially met Steve 'Leopard'. Dad and I had wanted to go to the local green where most kids went to play so that we could settle some score regarding who was the better catcher. A group of boys had being hanging around, messing about and had then started a game of football. I'd spotted Darren and begged Dad to let me play with them. The moment I ran up to the gang I was teased.

"What does a girl know about football?"

"You're too small!"

"Girls are just big sissies, they always cry if they get hit!" Kevin had shouted, obviously opposing the idea of me playing with the boys.

Darren had tried to get a word in sideways but had been failing. It wasn't until Steve came over that the boys shut up and listened, looking scared.

"So you think you can play with us?" He'd asked, looking like some gang leader, flanked by boys on either side of him.

I'd shrugged and frowned, "Is there a problem with that? Think that I might beat you?"

To shouts and cheering Steve had agreed that I could play, choosing to be on the opposite team to me. The game had lasted a while but had ended when Kevin had fallen and twisted his arm into an awkward position. His mother had come over, ranting at my father for not having watched the game more carefully and yanked Kevin away by his collar, ignoring his sobbing.

To say that I had been underestimated was well, an understatement. It had been a close calls, with me getting two goals more than Steve for my team. The silliest thing was that I had also underestimated Steve. I had expected him to start a fight, or call me weird because he had lost. But instead he had smirked, as though he knew something I didn't, and walked alongside Darren back to the benches. He'd turned his head sideways and called back to me as I trailed behind the gang "Not bad. For a girl you sure know how to play football. You can call me Steve."

That day I had been accepted into the society of the cool guys at school, according to Darren. It did nothing to gain me any girl friends but I was content enough to play football and soccer at lunches rather than sit around and play with Barbie dolls.

"Earth to Leah," a soft voice whispered at the back of my head as I remembered that first day. It kept nagging, becoming more insistent until I rolled my eyes and tore myself away from the memory.

Steve sat in front of me at a table in the library - which was the same as usual at lunch times; quiet and abandoned - and his eyebrows were knot together.

"What did you say?" I picked at leftovers on my tray, plucking a few French fries.

"I was just trying to grab your attention. Your sure seem to be in a daydream mood."

"Just remembered something that I have to do after school." I shoved a fry on my mouth, chewing way slower than I usually would have. Steve looked like he didn't believe me but he didn't say anything. The silence that ensued didn't help the awkward atmosphere.

I glanced up at the older boy through my lashes, hoping he wouldn't see me looking at him. He'd grown so much since that first day when I had met him. His hair, which he had shaved into a buzz cut back when we were eight or nine, was now a disarray of almost silvery-looking strands, and was in bad need of a haircut. He'd left the baggy long shorts in favour of jeans or track pants, and something managed to wear what could be called a proper shirt. His eyes had once been a plain shade of dark-ish blue with a few specs of a faint orange but over the years they had morphed into such a light blue, like a husky's.

I was startled out of my thoughts when I realised that Steve's wolfish blue eyes were staring straight back at me. I stayed rooted, not being able to take my eyes away, until I had to blink. Blinking, I broke the connection, blushing as I tried to hide by ducking me head to allow my hair to cover my face partially.

Steve cleared his throat, trying to dispel the awkward silence between us. I tried to think up of something to say. Anything at all would have sufficed but I wasn't exactly aware of anything that Steve was into. Other than making fun of people and being more or less the centre of attention.

"I was wondering if you wanted to come over to my house today," Steve suddenly blurted.

My head whipped up and I stared at him. Was he serious? A lot of people had thought that I was close to all the guys in Steve's gang but I had only been really close to Darren alone. I couldn't even remember ever being invited to their houses, much less Steve's. Darren had once told me that it was because he preferred it to be his personal space and he'd hinted that he wasn't happy about his family situation anyway.

I fumbled for an answer. What was I to say? Sure? No?

"Steve, I -" I was interrupted before I could manage to stutter and fail with making up an excuse.

"Oh, I forgot, you're grounded. Sorry, I spaced," he chuckled humourlessly.

I echoed the chiming of his voice, rubbing at the back of my neck. "Yeah, Mom went _way _crazy with grounding me. You have no idea what she's got me doing as punishment now. I can't even have my bike. My _bike_."

"You're lucky in some ways, I think." Steve smiled gently, something I'd never really witnessed much of. He was more the one for smirking, making everyone feel dirty, naked, or ignorant of something big.

"Oh, really?" I raised my eyebrow, disbelief and sarcasm filtering through my tone.

Steve looked sheepish for a moment, fiddling with his plastic fork as he stared at the table. "I guess, yeah. I mean, it shows how much they care. Your parents, I mean."

"I think you are one of the only teenagers on this planet who thinks it lucky when they get grounded. You amaze me further, Mr Leopard." His smile slipped a little at the mention of his nickname and I almost hit myself upside the head. Darren had always called him by his nickname. I managed to stop myself from apologizing. I wasn't sure that Steve was really into that sentimentality just yet.

His smirk returned. "That's the thing; I've never been grounded before. Well, save for one time - but that was when I was eleven. I had gotten a my bike and ripped apart my mom's front garden. She had managed to grow a couple of flowers after years of failed attempts. Plus, the garden reminded her of my dad. They'd planted it together." His eyes were glazed over and it looked like he was in a completely different world, even though he sat right in front of me. He'd never talked to me about his mother or father and now I understood why Darren described him as someone who looked extremely vulnerable when thinking about them.

His smirk had left and a small frown took it's place, a crease showing itself between his eyebrows.

"The things is that your parents care enough to try to set you straight, to show you that whatever you did is wrong and you shouldn't repeat it. My mom doesn't bother anymore. She probably doesn't see any hope left for me."

"I don't think there is too much hope left for someone who asks a nun to show her privates in the middle of mass," I cracked a smile.

Steve burst out laughing, the memory coming back to him. At a particularly long mass that Darren's mom had managed to drag Steve to, he had gotten extremely bored. Enough to play a game of truth or dare with Darren and complete a dare by loudly asking a nun to flash everyone her "_exquisite_" bits.

"That had been amazing. I think that had made it into history of Bloomsville. I was every kids cool guy, every parents worst nightmare, and my mother's personal hell." He sobered up a bit, his laughter seizing.

I fished for something to say. I settled for "If you really want, you can do all my chores for me - see what's it like to be grounded."

"Is that a real offer, Carell?" I caught a twinkle in his eyes.

"I'm fully serious, Mr Leonard. I'm afraid that I may not make it out alive. Who will make your school days worthy of living if that were to happen?" I stuck my nose in the air, using a terrible British accent.

"I am well aware of the consequences. May I suggest that you appease your parental units by confessing to them that there will be a young, dashing - well bloody handsome - dare-devil of a gentleman heartbroken if such a terrible fate was to befall you!" Steve mocked, using a much better accent than mine.

"My! Mr Leonard, are you planning to run away with me? I must say, let's hit the road….."***

I closed the front door behind me, hoping my mom wasn't around to see me sneak a slice of the brownies she'd made the other days upstairs. No such luck.

"Leah? Is that you?" My mother's voice drifted in from the kitchen as I took off my scarf and jacket.

I rolled my eyes and shook my head. "No, I am afraid that I am a random robber who has planned to simple waltz into this beauty of a house which has cars parked outside of it. Could you suggest which room to loot first?" I walked into the kitchen and mom eyed my _slightly _muddy sneakers.

"Ha, ha, extremely funny. You make me laugh so that I think I may gain a six pack soon." There had to be someone who had passed on the sarcasm to me.

"You're late again," Mom wrinkled her nose in disgust as she read something in the newspaper she was holding.

I stopped at the fridge and whirled around to look at her. "I was earlier today!"

"Not early enough. You do realise how many chores you have now, right? Just wanted to remind you," she smiled a sugary sweet smile, teasing me.

"Nothing I can do about it. No _bike_, remember?" I turned back to the fridge and opened it, resting my full attention on all the food.

Mom sighed and set her paper down. "About that. I was thinking that I might give it back to you."

I almost dropped the brownie that I had grabbed. "Seriously?" I whipped around to look at her. _Please_, I begged, _don't be messing with me_.

"Well, I would prefer it if Isaac could pick you up but he's made it quite clear when he bought his car that he wouldn't give you any lifts. And, of course, that didn't set any good argue, but he has to drive to work straight after school, and since your father and I can't pick you up since our work hours are starting to pick up, I was contemplating giving you back you bike."

I gazed at Mom suspiciously. Something was up if she was just going to hand it back to me within a few days grounding. "And I get this privilege because…."

With her head Mom motioned for me to come and sit down at the table. As I did so she pushed the newspaper closer to me and with her perfectly manicured nail indicated an article.

I put my brownie down and began to read.

Bloomsville Report

At ten forty-seven last night, Elaine Wood phoned the beloved police station in order to report a missing body within her house. The distraught woman had claimed that her child was no longer in her house. Reportedly, she had run outside and checked the front and back gardens and even looked up and down the street, all the whilst calling out her son's name.

The police arrived shortly before eleven o'clock that night to scope out the house and the surrounding area. During the search and questioning of the whole family, no signs of abuse or of any other violence within the house were uncovered and therefore Alex Wood, seven, cannot be proclaimed missing as of yet.

And extensive search was made during the early hours of this morning, with the whole town being under this search. No body was found and the matter has become increasingly worrying.

Elaine Wood reported under questioning that she had turned the lights out in her child's bedroom at eight thirty, and after a bathroom visit had checked up on the child at ten thirty-four, and he had been asleep in bed. Within the time frame of ten thirty-four and ten forty-seven, Alex Wood must have been ripped out of bed and taken out of the house, reported Chief Sheppard. It would not have been possible for the small child to make it out of town within that short time frame on his own, even if using a bicycle.

"We have checked the whole town for any signs of suspicious behaviour and have not been able to come up with any leads," said Chief Sheppard.

Along with no neighbour having seen any activity on the street, the police had managed to find the CCTV footage on Church View lane. After carefully and thoroughly watching the footage, no moving body had been detected. There was no CCTV footage from behind the house as there is only a field in the back.

If anyone happens to see young Alex Wood, or if they think that they have, please phone the police - any help would be useful in this current time. In the mean time, children should not wander streets unsupervised. Police cars will be parked in every street and if any children need rides home if their parents are unavailable, do ask - better to be safe than sorry.

"The police of this town will get to the bottom of this and find little Alexander, no doubt about that," says Chief Sheppard. "But in the mean time, I suggest you lock all windows and doors."

**Author's note:**

I think I gave myself a slight case of the goosebumps with this last bit. I'm finishing this in the dark as we - you - read. I'm easily frightened, what can I say?

Okay! I can finally say this now; the story is truly beginning now. The real drama/action of it. And it's going to be so much fun for me to write!

I hope you enjoyed this chapter and that you will leave a review. Thank you for reading!


	10. Chapter 10

**Book 1:**

_CIRQUE DY FREAK:_

NIGHT'S SLAVE:

It was a rare occasion when anything exciting happened in Bloomsville. The police rarely had any job to do or errand to run, unless it included assisting students home when it was too dark after school. It was a miracle that some of the officers could pay for rent with the lousy job!

"I can't believe the huge spectacle they're making of this," I said as I stopped at Steve's locker as he was taking out his books.

"The disappearance? It's a way of making money, for the paper at least," he shrugged.

It had been three days and the local newspaper was beginning to publish stories that were more and more dramatic. Just last night Mom had slammed her copy down and rage, dubbing it a gossip magazine rather than a truly factual broadsheet newspaper.

"I can't imagine how worried Elaine Wood has been, and now this!"

The paper had begun publishing rather nasty stories about how some sort of abuse must have been going on within the Woods' house. It was a surprise to most people that the publisher hadn't gotten any warnings from anyone.

"I feel bad for that Emma chick. I heard that Alex was her little brother. _Is _her brother." He zipped up his backpack and slammed the locker door shut.

I frowned. "What Emma chick? I've never heard of an Emma Wood." I scrolled through the list of all the people in the town that I knew by association or through my mother. No Emma Wood.

Steve lifted his hand and pointed to a girl with ash blonde hair which was pulled back into a tight plait. As she turned away from her locker and I saw her tear stained face, I recognised Emily.

"Emily."

"Huh?" Steve looked back at me, his hand falling back to his side.

"It's Emily Wood, not Emma."

"Eh, she's really quiet. I don't think I've ever talked to her."

"She's not exactly the type of person who can easily talk to others."

"She's gonna have to learn to. People keep coming up to her. A few just give their condolences and the majority go up to ask her if it's true what the paper is writing and if the police have questioned her." He snorted. "Kevin had loudly informed the football team yesterday that he saw her getting her picture taken with those special plaques they make you hold up when they take a picture of a criminal. How he could have seen this, well…"

"It's freaky."

"'Course, it is. Someone's disappeared, and now it's official that they are a missing person."

"Everyone always wants something scandalous to happen. Now it's happened and parents are afraid to let their children outside. Mom gave me my bike back even."

"I'll probably be taking rides from the police that are around. Then when I say to girls that I've been in the back of a police car, no one can say I'm lying," Steve smirked.

I laughed, almost humourlessly. It was hard to laugh at anything recently. Everyone was in a panic. In a town this small rarely anyone got kidnapped. A few streets had CCTV cameras and where those usually failed, there were always nosy neighbours.

We passed Emily on our way to homeroom and I decided that at lunch I'd invite her to eat with us. I was positive that the library would be a much more secluded place than anywhere else. Other than the toilets, maybe.

"I'm kind of bummed that there was no helicopter. You know, like in the movies. They bring those out to search for body heat. But I guess they're a bit late."

"Yeah. Alex could either be way past the county border or maybe even …."

"Dead," Steve murmured softly. He opened the door to the classroom and walked in ahead of me. No one was there yet. We chose seats in the back, knowing that our discussion would go on after the bell rang.

"I never really thought that anyone from here would die…like, gruesomely or something. Just of old age. Really old age, considering this whole child-safe place."

"Not child-safe anymore. I saw the CNN this morning. They showed Alex's face and all kinds of details about him. It was freaky, 'cause I've never noticed him before and then I remember that he on the kids team of football. We used to have practice at the same time. They think that he may have been brought to some big city."

The first bell rang and students slowly began to file in.

I pushed my seat closer to Steve's and whispered, "But no one's yet mentioned the possibility that the kidnapper could still be here, with Alex. They could be hiding anywhere. The sewers even!"

"What's that about sewers I hear you saying, Carell?" Kevin's voice drifted over to us as he sauntered up to us with his posse.

I pulled a face at him and gestured for him to walk away. "Just discussing the pros and cons of where you live. Cons; it makes you smell, pros; no one has to see you save for when you're at school."

Kevin's face flushed a deep red as his friends began laughing. Steve snorted with laughter next to me and I waved bye to Kevin as he stormed to the other side of the room. As our laughter died down the rest of the students piled into homeroom.

The door opened again and Ms. Fleming came in, a grave expression on her face. She was followed closely by two police officers.

From the other side of the room I could just make out Kevin whispering with his friends. "Wish she was being taken away."

Ms. Fleming cast a glance around the whole room, making sure every seat was taken and everyone was present.

"Morning to you all. In light of recent events the police have asked me that they speak to every student to set some basic rules."

Immediately after her words a groan rose up from the students. A few hands flew into the air and a couple of students dared to voice their protest.

Ms. Fleming cast her glare at everyone, slamming her hand down on the teacher's desk. "That is not up for discussion. The safety of children is at risk, if it is not clear enough already to you. So, be quiet or risk landing yourselves in detentions."

Some students rolled their eyes but stayed silent as the police officers passed by Fleming as she stepped back. One was tall, blond and had big muscles. He looked kind of young and more than just bored. The shorter man next to him had dark hair and a moustache, and as he began speaking it seem to come to life, wiggling as if it were dancing.

"Hello, I'm Officer Lingard." He had a strange Winnie-the-Pooh voice, causing me to almost burst out laughing as he carried on. "Now, as you all know, Alex Wood is still missing. Our best guess is that he was kidnapped. Of course, there is an off chance that he could have hitched a ride from a stranger. And, to be on the safe side, the parents committee has asked to bring in a few rules so that nothing happens to _you_."

The blond guy stepped up, revealing a clipboard from behind his back.

"Officer Grant will now read all instructions out to you."

And in a monotonous Officer Grant proceeded to read out the new rules to the homeroom class.

"Students are to sign in upon their arrival to school and sign out when departing. No one is to walk alone, all students must travel in packs/groups/parties. Students are forbidden to walk home by themselves."

"As you can see, these are all basic, logical rules, that I hope you will all follow. Failure to do so could lead you to be …found missing next." And with the ominous ending Officer Lingard turned away from the students who sat aghast in their seats and, along with his partner, walked out of the classroom, Fleming trailing behind them.

Once the door shut arguments broke out. Everyone was trying to be heard over each other but it wasn't working, too many people were talking at once. I looked at Steve, who sat rigidly in his seat. He turned his head to look back at me and we shared a concerned look before the bell rang and everyone ran out to go find their friends before classes started.

"I'll see you in Calculus then," and with that Steve strode away, getting lost in the sea of students.

I'd excused myself from French class, waiting for the class to be half way over. I had been frowned upon but was allowed to go, so long as I didn't take have a century to do my business, as was put by Mrs. DeWayne.

I'd hurried along, having wished that I hadn't waited _that _long to beg for a bathroom pass. I almost ran the rest of the way, skidding around the last corner and practically falling into the restrooms.

After a few minutes I came out of the last stall and went to wash my hands. As I pushed my hand under the soap dispenser blond hair caught my eye and I turned my head to see Emily walk into the bathrooms, her eyes red and puffy - all the tale telling signs that I needed.

"Hey," I said gently. Emily jumped, not having noticed me at the far end. She smiled sadly and went over to a sink that had a roll of toilet paper. She grabbed some tissues and dabbed at her eyes.

"Hi," she eventually croaked back.

"I'm really sorry about what happened."

"It's fine." She cringed after a seconds. "Well, it's not fine what's happened but…"

"I get what you mean. I kind of do, actually," I gazed off, remembering Darren's death and how everyone had sidled up to me with apologies and reassurances about the future.

"I can't even get it through my head that he's not here. I come home every day and I think that I'll see him."

"You probably will!" I forgot about washing my hands and went to hold Emily by her shoulders with my soapy hands, ruining her cardigan.

"Le-ah," she hiccupped, "if the police haven't found him yet, what are the chances?"

"I don't think our police can qualify for the job - they have no practice at all!"

Emily cringed again and tears spilled down her face.

"No wait! They'll definitely find him, okay? Everything will be okay!" I got a better grip on her shoulders and brought her closer for a hug.

She huddled into me and sobbed against my shoulder, wrapping her arms around my middle. I waited for her calm down, lightly stroking her back.

"It feels so weird," Emily mumbled against my shoulder. It took me a while for my ears to register what she had said. "I never thought that something like this could happen. I never spared something like this any thought _at all_."

"I never did either. And then it happened out of the blue," I said, now thinking about Darren again.

"Thanks for the comfort," she withdrew her arms and smiled at me, but it never reached her eyes. I smiled almost blandly back at her.

"It's wasn't a problem. Any time, right?" I suggested.

"Sure," she sniffed and stepped back. She grabbed more tissues and was about to enter a stall before an idea popped into my head.

"Wait - how do you feel about having lunch with me?"

Emily turned back and looked at me for a few seconds. "Lunch with you?"

"Well, not just me. Steve will be there, too, I think. I've eaten in the library with him for the past few days.."

"Steve Leopard?" she blinked, as though it were hard to believe.

"Yeah, Steve," I bit my lip.

"As in, Steve the guy you had a fight with a while ago?"

I rubbed at the back of my neck, nervous a bit. "Er, yeah. We made up, so it's…all good now."

It was silent for a moment as I watched Emily process the idea in her mind.

"I guess I could make it, unless, of course, Steve plans to beat me up. I don't think I've any muscle to defend myself with." And with that Emily smiled tightly and closed the door to her stall.

"Great," I called out, walking towards the door. At the last minute I looked at my hands and skipped back to the sink to watch them of the soap, and then making a run for it back to class before Emily realised that there was soap on her cardigan.

As I walked back to class I didn't see the pair of eyes watching my figure as it moved further away.


	11. Chapter 11

**Book 1:**

_CIRQUE DU FREAK:_

NIGHT'S SLAVE:

The moment that Steve had rushed into the library and had thrown himself down into his usual seat at our usual table Emily had shut her mouth and blushed, silently refusing to continue her speech about the pros of doing homework straight after school. I had been sitting, mostly focusing on putting food into my mouth, and paying the minimum sliver of attention to those pros of doing homework early. Steve, by the looks of it, had more exciting things on his mind that he wished to share.

He'd opened his mouth and was about to say something when he finally noticed Emily, her face red and mouth shut, sitting across from him. He raised his eyebrow at me, silently questioning what was going on here.

"Steve, this is Emily. Emily, Steve." Short of introducing them I hadn't thought much further of what to do or say.

"I know who Steve is," Emily said in a hushed voice, looking down at her packed lunch. She was one of the few who wasn't brave enough to try the cafeteria food.

Steve glanced at Emily and must have realised who she was. "Right. Hi, Emily." He gave a slight wave of his hand and then hastened to open his bottle of water.

"Emily has just been telling me about the police and how much of a lousy job they're doing here," I said, hoping to ease the tension.

Emily blushed a deeper red. "I was actually talking about how much better it is to finish homework assignments right after -"

"Yeah, oops. I meant before that. You mentioned it a while ago, anyway," I waved it off. She hadn't mentioned anything the like. She wasn't the kind of person who just happened to like bashing the only people with authority who were searching for her missing brother, unlike me.

"The search, yeah. Did they find anything new? The paper isn't exactly printing what they should be," Steve looked at Emily, still blushing, and took a bite from his sandwich.

Emily cleared her throat and blinked a few times. She looked very uncomfortable under Steve's stare. "My dad says that they're printing anything that makes a story because the police aren't giving them anything."

"I wouldn't either. I mean, they take everything out of context and over-exaggerate on the facts," I rolled my eyes. The paper wasn't the best source of news in this town anyway.

"Have they talked about bringing out helicopters? I mean, don't they do that to find all the missing people - they track by body heat."

"I thought that was just in movies?" I interjected.

"I haven't asked my parents or the police anything like this. And if I did, they wouldn't tell me - I'm too young." Anger glinted in her eyes as she looked up at us.

"They won't tell you anything at all? Don't you have some right to know or something?" Steve leaned forward, looking far too interested.

"Of course they don't tell me anything. They just say "Don't worry, everything will be okay". Like I'm a kid who can't get a clue. Like I said, they won't tell me because I'm too young."

"Maybe they think you'll go crazy if you find out something and run away to look for him yourself!" I widened my eyes dramatically.

Steve rolled his eyes at me. "They probably do think that you'll go looking for him - by yourself. One kid missing is enough for them."

Now it was Emily's turn to lean in closer. "All that I do know - and I suppose everyone else will know in a few days - is that they're bringing in investigators. At least they're professional and will get the job done." Her face was now back to it's normal pale complexion.

"So do the police think that your brother is actually being hidden somewhere in this town?"

"From what I overheard them speaking to my parents about last night, yes."

"That's good, isn't it?" I raised my eyebrows.

"Good and bad." Emily leaned back in her chair, her food forgotten and untouched.

"How's it bad?"

Instead of Emily, Steve answered, his tone dark. "It means the kidnapper - and let's face it, possible killer - is right under everyone's noses."

* * *

I stood outside of school, just having signed out. I was about to unlock my bike from the bike rack when I heard my name being called.

"Hey, Leah!" Steve jogged up to me as I stared at him. He rarely called me by my first name.

"Hey, what's up." I turned back to put the key into the lock.

While I untangled the bike lock Steve decided it was time to berate me. "Why did you invite Emily to lunch today?"

"I saw her in the bathroom and I felt sorry for her. She doesn't have a lot of friends and told her to have lunch with us. It's not that big of a deal," I huffed.

"Well, there is a lot of ideas that I wanted to run by you during lunch but couldn't with her there. At least we got a bit of information out of her." He snapped.

"You make it sound like we tortured her into telling us everything she knows." I added, "Anyway, what makes you think that the cops didn't tell her more info and made her promise not to tell anyone else." I flipped my ponytail out of my face as I stood up straight and made to move my bike. Steve blocked my way and I glared at him.

"She doesn't look like a particularly good liar."

"And you'd know, wouldn't you?" I narrowed my eyes at him and tried to move around him. He was faster and blocked my path again.

"Do you want to hear my ideas, or not?" He grumbled.

I rolled my eyes and nodded. "Sure, why not?"

Now, in a hushed tone, Steve told me what he had been brewing since this morning. He leaned in closer and I rested my bike back against the bike rack.

"I think that we should take a look around the town ourselves."

"What? What do you mean?"

Steve took his queue and rolled his eyes at me, frowning. "What do you think I mean? Think for a second, Carell!"

I mumbled under my breath and glared at him again. "Right. Look around town. For what?"

Steve rolled his eyes again and I barely stopped myself from saying that they were like marbles. He huffed and exhaled deeply, trying to calm himself down. "To look for Alex Wood, of course. What else?"

"Oh." Realisation struck me and I stared dumbly at Steve.

"So…what do you think?"

I regained my senses and could've almost slapped Steve out of _his _senses. "How on earth do you propose we do that? We're two kids! We can't do anything!"

"We're two teenagers, actually," Steve interjected softly.

"Don't you think we'll be caught sneaking around? And if we do find Alex Wood, don't you think we'll also find the kidnapper?" I almost cried out, my hands now fists.

"I already thought of that," Steve waved away my alarm. "I was thinking that we sneak around during the night. If we find Alex, we can make an anonymous call to the police. They'll find him and then they'll find the kidnapper."

"And what makes you think that Alex and the kidnapper are even here?"

"Don't you remember what Emily said at lunch? Investigators are coming. Like the CIA or FBI kind. They think that Alex is still hidden somewhere here in Bloomsville."

"If there are investigators coming soon, then I think they'll get the job done. We don't need to involve ourselves in this. We could get hurt. Seriously hurt." I gave Steve my best serious look.

"Look, if you're scared, fine. I can do this all on my own," he looked away and stepped back, hitching his backpack strap back up his shoulder.

I frowned. "Steve, you can't do it. You could be kidnapped." I moved towards him, stretching my hand out. I didn't know what I had meant to do, grab a hold of him most likely. Instead of touching him I let my hand fall back to my side as I moved back to my bike and placed my hands on it instead.

This time Steve quickly moved out of my way when I went to pass him with my bike.

"If you don't want to do it, it's fine. But you can't stop me from doing it by myself."

I threw my right hand up in the air and glared at him. "Fine!" I snapped. "Do whatever the heck you want. Not my decision to make -"

"Hey, you kids!" Both of us turned I the direction of the voice and saw a thin police officer standing by the entrance gates.

"If you're waiting for someone to pick you up, you have to wait inside!" He pointed at us and then at the main entrance, where a few kids loitered about. I glanced at my bike and then got on. Before I put my foot on the pedal, Steve turned back to me and firmly placed a hand on my shoulder.

"We could really help out here. You can't say no to that. This could mean saving the kid's life!" He shook me a little, as though to get some sense into me.

I slapped his hand away. "I get what you're doing here. Manipulating me. It's not gonna work, not like it did on Darren all the time." And without taking any more glances at Steve's probably shocked face I put my foot on the pedal and cycled out of the school grounds, discarding the rule about travelling in groups.

* * *

The moment I got home I ran upstairs. The house was empty, Mom and Dad still at work and Isaac probably at his study group meeting back at school. The house was eerily quiet and I was almost scared to be all by myself but it was still daylight and if anyone tried to break in, the police weren't too far away.

I turned on my radio and hummed along to the song playing as I threw all the books in my school bag onto my bed. As I went to my wardrobe to find a pair of comfy sweats to be lazy in all day I heard a loud creak over the music.

I stopped all action and silently willed the music to lower in volume. As I was about to turn and slowly move towards the radio I heard another sound.

Another creak.

Without thinking I quickly ran up to the radio and shut it off and turned back to the door, hoping that the creaking sound was a part of the song. As another creak of the floorboards along the top landing sounded I looked around for anything I could use as a weapon. The closest weapon to me was my glass bedside lamp. It would have to do, I thought.

I picked up the lamp, quickly unplugging it, and moved towards my bedroom door. I sneaked a glance at where my mobile phone lay and found it on the other side of the room, on my desk. I grimaced and mentally slapped myself. _Note to self, always carry phone on you_, I bit the inside of my lip.

As I moved closer to the door I thought I saw a shadow moving outside. I tried to remember if I'd locked the door when I had come in. Could someone else have left the back door open? Maybe a window? I bit my lip and told myself to _focus_.

And with an almighty battle cry I launched myself out of my room and into the landing outside. As I randomly swung the glass lamp I shut my eyes tightly. My foot got caught behind my right one and I tumbled into the wall opposite my bedroom door. Crashing I shrieked and hoped that I had at least injured the intruder.

After a few seconds I opened my eyes and looked around, rubbing my head gently where it throbbed. My eyes widened at the sight.

There was no one there.

Getting up was hard but I managed and I ran to the stairs and then down. No one was downstairs. There was no one in the house I concluded after I ran into the kitchen and checked that the door was closed. I had imagined the creaking. I went back upstairs and looked guiltily at the now broken glass lamp. Mom would probably think I broke it on purpose.

Suddenly tired I walked back into my room and went to put the lamp where I had gotten it. As I stood by the window I spotted a figure outside, across the house. It looked like a man.

And it looked like he was looking at me.

**A/N: **

Alright, I finally updated. I'm sooo sorry for the wait but first my exams took all the creative juices outta me. So I was recuperating for some time. Then when I did sit down to type up this chapter I was at a loss of where to start or how to make it flow. So if it seems forced in some places - sorry. I hope you enjoy this chapter, though.

Reviews would be greatly appreciated!


	12. Chapter 12

**Book 1:**

_CIRQUE DU FREAK:_

NIGHT'S SLAVE:

I'd kept quiet about what I thought I heard when Mom had asked if there was anything wrong with me. Though I assured her that I was perfectly fine - _"Never been better" _- she still looked at me suspiciously during dinner time.

It was a relatively quiet dinner, much unusual for our household. But towards the end Mom decided to spring some news on us since it seemed we were all a bit too miserable.

"I've got good news for you lot!" Mom said cheerily, grinning at us. It was weird to see her like that, especially as she was fuming all the time as of recent events.

Dad cleared his throat and took a sip from his glass of water. "Did they find that little boy? That would sure be damn good news."

Mom scowled before putting down her fork and knife. "No. It's not about that. Lucas called me a while ago to tell me that he was coming home to visit us. Isn't that nice?"

Isaac groaned loudly at the same time as I asked "Will he bring the Stick with him?"

"Leah! I've told you many times before not to call her that! Her name is Rebecca." Mom glared at me, lifting her fork to her mouth.

Dad scratched his head with the back of his hand, gazing at Mom curiously. "Are you sure her name is Rebecca? I could have sworn it was -"

Before Dad could finish his sentence Isaac coughed loudly, interrupting him while I madly waved my hand across my neck, indicating to Dad that he should shut up. He stared at me confusedly until Mom turn her eyes on me. I smiled innocently at her.

"If you have been feeding your father lies about _Rebecca _- that _is _her name, darling - then you better watch yourself, young lady."

"It wasn't all my doing!" I cried, pointing at Isaac who made a rude sign at me.

"None of that at the table!" Mom snapped, glaring at both of us as Dad continued to look between us.

"Is there something wrong?" Dad asked but Mom ignored him. She pointed at me with her fork and then at Isaac.

"If the two of you don't behave I will consider giving out heavier punishments."

"Like you don't already," Isaac muttered under his breath.

"I heard that!"

I laughed until Mom glared at me again. Then I picked up my fork and finished the food on my plate. I was nervous about going upstairs because it felt like someone was constantly watching me but I wasn't about to stay downstairs with Mom around the place.

She sniffed and dabbed at her mouth with her napkin. "I was thinking that maybe I should tell Lucas to cancel. I mean, right now isn't the best of times to visit, is it? What with the disappearance and all."

Dad nodded, smiling sadly. "It'd be a damn shame for him to spend time at home when people are scared to go out of their houses."

Mom agreed. "I have half a mind to send the two of you to your nana's," she said pointing in mine and Isaac's direction. We shared a look, silently agreeing that neither one of us wanted to go back to Nana's house where she had no computer, television or chocolate.

"They'll probably catch the kidnapper any day now." Isaac spoke up. "I heard at school that they're bringing in a detective or something. The kid's bound to be found."

"Are you not at all worried that poor Alex's _body _may be found? For all we know he could be all the way across the country!" said Mom, furious.

I raised my eyebrows and decided to bring up what I had learned today.

"Alex could be here, with the kidnapper. I mean, the police must have searched in other towns. So if this detective is coming _here_, I think it goes to say that they could be hiding right here in town," I spoke after swallowing the last of my food.

"Now I'm more worried," Mom cried, a note of irritation slipping into her voice. "I think you can manage a week or two with your nana. It may do you two some good," Mom sniffed again, looking down at her plate sadly as she stirred the remains of her dinner with her fork.

"But, Mom! It may do Leah some good since she's been getting into so much trouble lately-"

"Hey! That's not fair-"

"-but I haven't done anything bad and-"

"-you can't just leave me all by myself -"

"- I have my job! You can't forget about -"

"Both of you! Quiet!" Dad slammed his fist onto the table, making everything on it rattle from the force. Everyone - apart from Dad, himself - at the table turned to stare at him in wonder.

"You can talk, just one at a time! Otherwise you'll drive us crazy!"

Mom, a spark in her eyes now, turned back to look at Isaac. "I know you have a job but it isn't exactly safe right now, is it?"

"But they're thinking of cutting every student's hours short - so I'll be getting home earlier," Isaac moaned, anxious about having to go to Nana's.

"Is your job really more important to you than your own life?"

Isaac didn't answer, looking down at his plate instead. I looked at Mom before deciding to make a deal with the devil.

"What if we wait three more days? How about that?"

"Excuse me, Leah? Are you compromising with me right now?"

"If I've got the right definition of 'compromise' then I'm pretty sure I am," I grinned sheepishly. Dad sighed heavily and got up, collecting all the dishes. Mom groaned, bemused, and slapped a hand to her face.

"If this makes you swear that you will willingly go to your grandmother's house, then fine. You get three days, no more."

"And no less," I said, walking on a thin line. Mom sent me one of her glares before getting up and following Dad out into the kitchen.

"You do realise that if Alex Wood is found dead before this three days agreement is up, she'll send us to Nana's anyway?"

"I know. So pray that Alex is found alive and well," I said before getting up myself and running upstairs, yelling a "Thanks, dinner was lovely" as I went.

* * *

I sat at my desk, my small over head lamp on. It was sometime around twelve and I still had my maths homework to finish for tomorrow. I sighed heavily, exasperated with the problems that I had to solve. I snorted, like I'd need all this complicated maths stuff in my life. I was relatively good at maths but I hadn't been listening very well in class the past few weeks and it was showing in my work.

My phone vibrated in my pocket. I kept it there ever since I'd gotten home and vowed to myself that I wouldn't let it out of my sight or reach. I didn't feel like having a repeat of what had happened to me - though I told myself aloud that nothing had _actually _happened to me while a voice in the back of my mind whispered the opposite.

I reached into my back pocket and retrieved my mobile phone. I'd put it on silent so as not to wake anyone if someone did happen to call or text me. I checked it and saw that I had one new message from Steve.

It read: _Need to talk. Call me if you can_.

I rolled my eyes. What could he possibly want to talk about with me now, at this hour? I decided that it couldn't be too important, otherwise he would have called himself already.

My phone went off again and I glared at it. Really, this couldn't wait until a better to call at?

I sighed and checked the new message.

_Call me even if it's inconvenient_.

Instead of ignoring him this time I decided to text back.

_You can simply tell me through text whatever it is you wish to tell me. Next time, pick a finer hour to text at -L._

The phone vibrated again, almost immediately after I pressed on the send button.

_THIS IS URGENT. CALL. NOW._

I rolled my eyes again before completely forgetting about my maths homework and pressing the call button under Steve's contact details.

He picked up on the first ring, surprising me with a "Why did you take for damn long?"

"Hey, I'm sorry but I'm not the one calling this late! My mom could wake up any minute and ground me. More than she has already!" I shouted in a whisper down the line, wishing I could do more damage to Steve's hearing.

"Calm down! If you keep your voice down then no one will hear. I did tell you that I had something urgent to tell you, didn't I?"

I walked over to my bed and lay down as gently as I could without making the springs groan in protest. I threw my thick blanket over myself, hoping that my voice would be muffled by the thick fabric.

"What do you want, Leopard? This really better be important - I have homework due tomorrow that's still not finished," I almost growled at him.

"You can finish it tomorrow morning."

"Like that's actually going to happen. Why do you think I'm not leaving it till then?"

"Just listen to me," Steve said, exasperation in his voice.

"Fine," I sighed, closing my eyes as I rubbed the back of my neck in frustration.

"Remember what I told you about my plan earlier today?"

"Hard to forget. You wanted to send yourself on a suicide mission," I droned.

"Well, I went around for a little look. I decided that the abandoned theatre would be a good spot. And it was. Guess what I found there," said Steve, almost gleefully.

"Oh - oh - oh! The kidnapper!" I snapped, glaring at the phone as though it were Steve himself.

"No. Stop snapping at me - it's irritating."

"And I should do what you tell me because…"

"Just be a good friend and keep listening."

I was silent for a few seconds. Steve had never really called me his friend. He said I was part of the group but he had never been best mates with everyone in the old gang. So this rendered me speechless for a moment before Steve cleared his throat and asked if I was still there.

"Yeah, yeah. I am. I'm listening," I said, swallowing the lump in my throat.

"Well, I'm pretty sure that I found the kidnapper's things. There was a rucksack packed with weird little bits and bobs - a few pots and a spoon. No clothes. No phone. Just the pots and…stakes. Some are just sticks but the rest are definitely stakes."

"Stakes? Like…stakes that you kill vampires with?"

"Now you're catching on."

"Catching on to what exactly? Are you saying this person - who's belongings you found in an abandoned old dump - is a vampire hunter?"

"No! I think it is a vampire!"

"Steve, that's the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard you say. Vampire, seriously? Please, tell this story to someone else and don't waste my time."

"Okay, okay! I was just messing. But it's still weird that he has stakes in his bag, isn't it?"

Yeah it's weird. But how are you certain that this is the kidnapper's stuff? I mean, it could be just a regular bum's. He can't exactly sleep on the streets."

"I'm sure it's the kidnapper's. I've just got this feeling…I can't explain it. But I'm certain."

I sighed again. "I wouldn't put much faith into this _certainty _if I were you. Are you still there?"

"No, I cycled home as soon as I was finished looking through the kidnapper's -"

"-homeless person's -" I grunted.

"- bag. I didn't feel like sticking around in case he came back."

"At least you weren't caught by the police," I sighed in relief. It was a strange feeling, being relieved about Steve not getting in trouble. I hadn't realised that I had come to be so sympathetic towards him.

"They're too ignorant. They never look in the right places. I wouldn't be surprised if the kidnapper got another kid. The police just sit in their cars in one place on every street. And they're kind of bad when it comes to changing their shifts. _Rodney, _for example, leaves a few minutes before the next officer can relieve him of his duty."

"How on earth do you know that?" I raised my brow, staring confusedly at nothing in particular.

"Rodney was the officer I got a lift home from. I guess his girlfriend doesn't pay him enough attention since he practically spilled his whole life story to me, along with a few quips at said girlfriend. It was easy to get him to talk about the shifts and timetable."

"So you knows exactly when there are blind spots during their 'neighbourhood watch'," I stated, almost feeling excited over this fact.

"Exactly so!" Steve affirmed joyfully, as though he was confirming that Christmas was arriving earlier this year.

"I hope that you aren't going to abuse this knowledge…too much," I laughed, quickly covering my mouth with my hand afterwards, scared that I had woken someone up.

"Don't worry. We can both abuse this knowledge. I was thinking of checking out a few more places tomorrow night."

"Steve," I stressed his name, "I don't think this is a good idea. You know I don't."

"Leah, it's fine. I didn't get caught or anything tonight, and I won't ever."

"What if the kidnapper actually finds you. Steve, don't him more reason to go out looking for more victims."

"Come with me then. We could watch each other's backs. We could also get things done faster. So how about it?"

"Steve, I don't think I'll be able to get away with it. My mom's watching me like a hawk lately, for obvious reasons. She did catch me last time I sneaked out."

"Stop making excuses, Carell."

"Look, Steve. I don't know if you actually get this but I'm scared, okay? I'm scared to go out at night - even with you watching my back - because I'm afraid that I might find the kidnapper and never see my family. Isn't that a scary prospect for you?"

I could hear Steve breathing down the line. I wasn't sure if he actually felt the same fear as I did. I mean, he had just risked his own life in order to check out an abandoned old theatre for a kid-snatching-lunatic. If he felt scared, he was damn well hiding it.

"It's fine, Carell. I can just do this on my own. It's not a problem." But from the sound of his voice, it was definitely a problem in his point of view.

"Steve," I moaned, "c'mon. Don't be like this. We can just leave this and find something else to do. Just don't go out again."

"Whatever. I can handle it all by myself. 'Night, then."

"Steve, wait!" I called out in a whisper but to no avail. Steve had hung up, obviously intending to disregard what I had told him. I sighed and rolled over, pulling up my blanket to get a bit more fresh air.

As I sat up I could have sworn I saw a shadow in the window. I didn't bother getting out of bed and running over to check what it was. I frantically pulled the blanket over my head again, intending to close my eyes and quickly fall asleep before I could think about what had happened that afternoon too much.

Sleep didn't come easily for me that night and I kept tossing and turning all night, trying to make the images of a shadowy figure go away.

* * *

A burly figure stooped down low, just managing to pass through a low passage that consisted of a wide crack in a wall.

There was a sort of groaning and then frantic yelps came from further in the cave-like room.

Moving aside some random junk as the figure moved forward, a small figure was revealed behind a stack of empty boxes.

"Now, now. You know I like it better when you stay quiet." The man - for there was no denying the gruff voice belonged to a male - chuckled, biting down on something. He came closer to the smaller figure and offered a green apple to the small boy who was tied up with a gag in his mouth.

"It might help if you eat something." Before waiting for answer the man just threw the apple down by the small boy's feet. When the apple hit the ground it was obvious that it would bruise. It rolled away, out of reach of the small boy.

"Bad luck, eh?" The man chuckled again, biting into his own apple. He munched loudly while walking around the room.

He sniffed and wiped at his nose with his sleeve. "Now, there was a right old snoopy kid around hear a while ago. Good thing you didn't make any noise - otherwise you'd have a 'cellmate', shall we say?"

The small boy thrashed around and tried to yelp again but the gag prevented him from doing so successfully. The man walked over to him again and put his boot against the boy's damp cheek, pushing his face around so he could look him in the eye.

"Don't do that. You know what happens when you keep on doing that. I get angry. And I am a bit thirsty… Are you up for that?" When the boy stayed still and didn't moan or groan the man grinned, pleased. "I thought so."

He pulled his foot away, leaving the boy to roll back into his previous position.

"I was thinking that I'll look for someone new for tonight. I feel like getting something more fresh," and with a last chuckle the man threw his apple core in the young boy's direction and stamped out of the room.

* * *

_**A/N: **__Wooh! Another chapter updated. Sorry if it took another while - I was on holidays in Latvia, trying to enjoy the sun. I'm hoping to get the next chapter up faster. _

_Please review if you enjoyed this chapter. Reviews are like food to me - keep feeding me, please!_


	13. Chapter 13

**Book 1:**

_CIRQUE DU FREAK:_

NIGHT'S SLAVE:

I looked around the unfamiliar setting and shivered. This didn't feel right for some reason. First of all, it was that I didn't even know where I was. And second, everything felt…fake. Nothing around me felt real. It was as though I would wake up any minute now and realise that wherever I was now wasn't a real place. That it was all in my head.

It was night time and I stood in the middle of a street. There was no one around but I could make out sounds of laughter and chattering. A street lamp provided and only light along the whole street and I felt that if I were to step out of the circle of light I would be snatched by an unknown creature.

While I stared around I failed to notice a shadowy figure step inside my circle of light. I felt their presence before I even saw them. I whipped my head around, going against my instincts to simply run away quickly. The dark figure took a small step and emerged into the circle of light all around me. I winced and shied back, stepping far too close to the edge of the circle.

"Who are…you?" My voice jumped and I had a hard time swallowing the lump that had lodged itself into my throat. I felt like I would cough up a lung trying to get rid of the lump, as though it were larger than it actually seemed.

When the figure finally spoke I completely forgot all about the lump in my throat and stared in horror at them.

"Oh, you don't have to worry. Too much. All your troubles will be over with in a little while." It was a deep, gruff voice. It felt like little hook had embedded themselves into my skin and were slowly being tugged at, dragging my skin and making a shiver run down my back. This was some kind of nightmare, it had to be_. I'm just stressed and scared from what happened at home_, I tried to tell myself. This couldn't be real.

I reached up to scratch at my arm, wincing in disgust at the feeling of invisible bugs crawling along my skin. I felt like pulling at my hair when it began to itch and feel like it was on fire.

_Wake up_, I told myself. I tried to open my mouth to speak but my lips stayed glued to each other, as though they had melted and run into each other before cooling and become a solid. The lump returned and it was pushing at my locked lips, trying to free itself. I couldn't swallow it back down and at the acidic taste in my mouth I began to cry.

_This isn't real, it's a nightmare. This can't be happening_, I tried to cry out but not even a gurgle escaped my mouth. As tears blinded me I barely managed to see the dark figure zoom in. It was coming closer.

I fell to my knees and tried to put my hands together to plead for freedom. I found myself unable to move as the figure seemed to kneel in front of me. Without much hesitation it ripped my arm away from the rest of my body and brought it to its mouth. And then it open its mouth to reveal rows of sharp, jagged teeth. I tried to scream and thrashed around to put some distance between us but it was futile when the figure pulled on my arm and sank its sharp teeth into the soft flesh.

I screamed. I heard myself screaming. My lips stung but I could now scream for help. But it didn't seem like there was anyone around who would be able to help.

Tears streamed down my face as the pain intensified and suddenly it felt like I couldn't inhale enough air and then suddenly everything went bright, blinding me for a few minutes as I groaned and whimpered.

I sat bolt upright, gasping for air, feeling like I had just run a marathon. I only realised that I had been screaming once my mother began to shake me by my shoulders and telling me that everything was alright and that I was just fine.

"Shh, Leah, it was only a nightmare," she cooed softly, pulling me into an embrace.

I stared around wildly, inspecting the whole of my room - Dad seemingly doing the same at that moment - while someone held up a glass of water to my mouth. I let the water pour down my aching throat as I squeezed my eyes shut, hoping to regain my composure.

"Are you better now?" Mom looked me in the eye and I almost wanted to burst into tears and tell her everything that had happened. I swallowed and looked away though, not in the least wanting to share any of my nightmare.

_At least it was all a nightmare_, I told myself, trying to slow down the beating of my frantic heart.

"Honey bear, if you want to talk about it, your mother and I are here for you. You know that right?" Dad came up to my bed and smiled at me. He patted my head and sat down next to Mom.

"Dad, I'm _fine_. It was just a stupid nightmare…about …spiders," I licked my lips and winced at the stinging sensation. Mom tut-tutted and swiped my hand away when I reached out to feel my bottom lip.

"It's cracked in the middle, so it'll sting for some time. I don't want you licking at it constantly - it'll take longer to heal."

"Must have been from all the screaming, Honey bear."

I rolled my eyes and dropped my hand back to my side. "Dad, how many times did I tell you not to call me Honey bear?"

Dad cracked another smile while Mom rolled her eyes and cleared her throat.

"Well, now that's sorted, you're fine now. Will you try to sleep some more? It's only four in the morning."

"I doubt she'll be able for it - that seemed like a really bad nightmare."

"I'm sure it's from those horror movies you and Isaac insist on watching late at night. Well, no more, you hear me?"

"It was just about spiders, Mom, really - it's no big deal," I said sheepishly.

Mom crossed her arms over her chest, huffing. "Right, just spiders. Well, they must have been eating you alive if you had to scream that loudly."

"It doesn't look like I woke Isaac up - you're just a light sleeper."

"No - Isaac most likely has his earphones plugged in while sleeping," Mom said, annoyed at the prospect. She'd told him off many times before but he just hid them under his pillows.

"Look, I'm fine, it had nothing to do with horror movies or anything. It was just a random bad nightmare."

Mom huffed and kissed me on the forehead before standing up and dragging Dad away with her after he'd ruffled my hair. Once they were out on the landing and I switched off my light my breath caught in my throat. I tried to calm myself down and in the end just turned the light back on. I did one more check of my room but couldn't see anything. But the more I thought about it the more my arm seemed to hurt.

I pulled my arm out from under the covers and pulled back the sleeve. There wasn't any bite mark there, just red marks from what looked like hand prints. My own hand prints, I told myself as I settled back in to my bed, under the covers.

As I tried to drift off I could pick up random fragments of a conversation. Mom and Dad must have still been up.

"I don't think…not a good idea," Mom's voice could be made out. I tried to listen a bit harder but I couldn't pick up everything she was saying.

"Maybe it's good to send…..with this missing boy…."

I groaned and slapped a hand to my face, wincing after a few seconds. Of course they'd think that Emily's missing brother would give me nightmares. I waited a few minutes, hoping to hear more from their conversation.

And I kept waiting until I could no longer remember what I was doing. When I became aware of my surroundings again I found that it was bright in the room. My light was still on but there was also light coming in from the windows, through my curtains. I reached out and felt around my bedside table for my alarm clock.

Once I propped myself onto my elbows and properly opened my eyes I saw that it was only seven a.m. I turned off my lamp and lay back down. I couldn't shake the feeling that I got every time I closed my eyes. The only way I fell asleep was because I was exhausted - would I have to stay awake for hours every night now?

I decided to get out of bed and get ready for school. Once my face was clean and I was dressed I stuffed all my books into my bag, ignoring how heavy it was, and lumbered down the stairs as Isaac began to move about his bedroom.

Mom was already downstairs, sipping on her cup of coffee while she read the newspaper. She glanced at me as I dropped my bag onto one of the chairs and went to the fridge. I rummaged around for something to my liking.

"How are you feeling?"

"Fine. Why are you asking?"

Mom took another sip of her coffee before replying. "You're up unusually early."

I scuffed as I retrieved the milk. "I've gotten up at this hour before, please." I poured the milk into a bowl and got out the only cereal left in the cupboard. I sat down across from Mom and shoved the spoon into my mouth, anxious to get out the door soon. Being cooped up in the house must have fried my brain completely.

"If you say so," Mom said, looking back at her newspaper. She muttered a few times as she read something of interest and sipped on her coffee, completely ignoring my bad table manners. She was still sitting at the table by the time that I shoved the last spoon full of cereal into my still-full mouth and put the bowl into the sink to rinse. I munched slowly on my mouthful while I got my bag and went to put on my shoes.

"Seeing as you're ready to go would you mind waiting a few minutes while I get ready? I could drop you to school then." Mom looked over at me expectantly as she got up from her seat.

"No, it's okay," I shook my head, smiling apologetically. "I'm fine with cycling." I just wanted to get out of the house as soon as possible and clear my head for a few minutes while I cycled.

"Whatever suits you," Mom shrugged and went to put her mug into the sink.

I called goodbye to her and left the house. I retrieved my bike from the back shed and began cycling down the street, towards the main road. I decided to take a longer route so I could have a few more moments to myself.

* * *

"Pssst, Carell," came the voice of someone from behind me. I turned my head slightly, trying not to make it obvious to my teacher that I wasn't paying much attention.

When the teacher had his back turned to the class, I turned fully in my chair and barked in a whisper, "What?"

The blond guy sitting behind me gestured to a few seats behind him, where Steve sat. I smiled at the guy behind me before sending a glare in Steve's direction. I wasn't in the best of moods today, if it wasn't obvious enough already.

Steve held his hands up in defence, not enough for the teacher to notice but enough for me to see. He proceeded to hold up his notebook with a few equations on it. His maths homework, most likely.

I shrugged and turned back around, now worried about my own maths homework. What was I going to do with maths in two periods? I turned my head back and saw Steve already scribbling on his notebook, likely jotting down someone else's answers. I rolled my eyes but decided that I'd get the answers off of him as payment for the late night call.

The bell rang soon after and I was out of my seat first. I came over to Steve and grabbed his notebook before he could put it away.

"Hey! What are you doing? That's my homework!" Steve tried to reach around me and grab the notebook but I swatted his hands away, tsking.

"Sure it is. Now, I need it!"

"But you said on the phone that you were doing your homework," Steve whined, reaching for my hands again as we walked out of the classroom with everyone else.

"And thanks to you I never finished. Now shush and let me copy down the answers before class."

"By the way-"

"No, Steve! I have not thought any more about your offer?"

Steve rolled his eyes at me, annoyed. "Why not?"

"I told you last night," I said, exasperated by him and his stupid idea. "It's a really stupid idea. If you don't run into the kidnapper then you'll probably run into the police. You can't outsmart them all - they have CCTV's everywhere practically."

"Fine, but worry in your own time, Carell. You could at least be a bit more supportive. I mean, I could very well find Alex Wood," Steve smirked.

"Don't you think the police would have been able to find him already?"

"Have you met a policeman before? They seem to be incompetent fools," Steve shrugged, hoisting his backpack strap up his shoulder. "You should have seen the Rodney guy - I thought he was messing around with me but that was overestimating him by a long shot."

"Not everyone is like Rodney," I pointed out, trying to jot down a particularly tricky equation down onto my copy.

"Whatever, just write faster." I complied and soon was finished, sighing in relief that I homework to show.

We stepped into our class - economics - and our discussion about the police in the town was cut short as we took our seats. Emily turned around in her seat and waved timidly. I waved back but Steve just ignored her. She pretended not to notice but I could see a blush creeping up her neck as she turned back around.

The lesson began once the teacher came in and set some work for the class.

* * *

I gritted my teeth and hit the ball with all my might. I tried to use everyone's advice - try to direct the hit - but it didn't seem to work very well as the ball flew behind the line and everyone yet again groaned.

Never had I told anyone that I was good at volleyball. Give me a ball and tell me to hit it - it won't matter how good I am at other sports, I just suck at volleyball and can't play it at all.

"Carell!" the coach yelled again, annoyance creeping into his voice. "Are you trying to tell me that's your best?"

My shoulders sagged as I had to tell yet another person that I should just sit out. "You know I'm no good at this, Coach. Just bench me already!"

A few people around me catcalled and agreed, hoping to kick me to the curb before they seriously ended up on their butts and the other team won.

"Fine, go sit. But next time, there will be no mercy, Carell, you hear me?" Coach gave me a withering look before I jogged off to the benches. I spotted Emily sitting by herself and trotted over before throwing myself down.

"That was torture," I sighed, wiping sweat from my forehead.

Emily giggled, twirling one of her plaits around her finger as she watched the game continue. "You must be faking."

"Why's that?" I looked up at her, curiously.

"There is no way that you can't play this game while you play almost every other sport like a professional," she shrugged, flipping her plaits over her shoulders.

I thought for a moment. I had rarely played volleyball. Maybe on a hot summer's day but usually everyone goofed off and messed around, not really caring about the score. Football was what I was best at. I used to play constantly with Darren - the only time Steve would allow me to play with the boys. I hadn't paid much attention to anything really the past few weeks, ever since…

"I just don't like it - I always hurt my wrist," I made up a flimsy excuse and hoped she wouldn't inquire any more about it. I tried to swallow the lump lodged in my throat as Emily chose a new topic.

" - so if we're eating in the library again with Steve, I think we should include -"

"Steve?" I caught the middle of her sentence and blushed when she looked at me quizzically. "Sorry - I'm just in a bit of a strop with him right now," I covered up.

"Oh, well then, we can eat somewhere else if you want," Emily said, smiling sympathetically.

"No. No, it's okay. It's nothing big, just a disagreement about something small." I looked down at my shoes and leaned back. "We can eat in the library, it's not a problem. I mean, I don't want to get in the way of you and Steve."

Emily flushed, her mouth gaping as she stared at me. "What? Me and Steve? Why would you think…where would you get that….There is nothing there…He doesn't even look - at - me. I'm invisible."

I laughed, throwing my head back. "I just thought that maybe you liked him. You blush around him a lot."

Emily shook her head quickly. "I blush around everyone. I'm blushing right _now_ and Steve isn't even here."

"Actually he's across the gym," I pointed over to his playing figure as he hit a perfect shot and scored a point for his team.

Emily looked where I pointed and blushed a deeper red. Even her ears went red! Her face looked so bright, especially next to her pale blonde hair. "No, really - there's nothing -"

"Okay," I put my hands up and looked away. It wasn't my business if she did like Steve or not. She knew what kind of person he was - everyone knew. No warning was needed if she did like him. I just couldn't help but be interested.

"There is nothing that I find attractive about Steve - he bullied me once and I can't…" Emily kept talking as I looked at Steve again. Of course, a lot of girls found him attractive but he wasn't the nice kind of guy. As far as I knew he barely acknowledged any female, especially those who liked him unashamedly.

_Maybe he doesn't like girls_, I thought.

Since I was practically one of the guys, boys never got shy around me when discussing girls they liked. Steve usually piped in that girls were useless and never said anything else. I guess it seemed obvious now - his dislike towards girls. I decided to keep my discovery under wraps so as not to burst Emily's possible dream.

We continued our conversation, me sneaking a few glances at Emily to find her sneaking a few glances at Steve as he played. Maybe she wasn't quite aware of him before as she might now be after I mentioned it. She certainly looked at him more often, a new shine to her blue eyes.

"Did you hear me? Leah?" I just barely heard Emily's worried voice. "Are you okay? Should I call the coach? Leah?"

I shook my head to get out of my daze and my gaze snapped to Emily who had a frown etched onto her pale face.

"Sorry, I spaced out for a bit. What did you say?" I raised my eyebrows, hoping that I hadn't offended her greatly by not listening.

"I asked you if you heard that the inspector that I mentioned the last day was arriving tomorrow."

"Oh - no. That's good, right? He can finally find your brother." I looked at Emily close, trying to see her reaction.

Her face hardened and she scowled. "I hope he finds that kidnapper and soon. He deserves to be punished - brutally." She pounded her fist into her open hand as she stared at a blank spot next to her sneakers.

I gazed at her worriedly. I didn't think Emily was capable of that kind of thinking. She looked so innocent and soft - not one for pounding her fist.

"Don't worry they'll find him. And Alex," I tried to distract her but she didn't tear her gaze away from her spot, and her scowl stayed in place. I opted for the last resort and nonchalantly said, "You should tell Steve when you get a chance - he'll be really interested," I added quickly afterwards, "In this inspector's arrival, I mean."

Emily blushed again and looked away, gnawing on her bottom lip.

As Emily began to talk again about something or other, my thoughts drifted to this inspector fellow. Could he really get the job done if the town police force couldn't? Was it likely that Alex Wood was still in Bloomsville? The inspector could be visiting here just to ask some questions, inspect the house - maybe Emily and Steve had it wrong, maybe the inspector didn't think that Alex was still here, with the kidnapper right under our noses.

* * *

_A/N: Not much happened. Just a creepy nightmare, a little banter, and a discovery that very well may lead to some awkward conversations! I hope you somewhat enjoyed this - even if it wasn't my finest chapter. Please review - it makes me so happy!_


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